Peru – Aprocassi Decaf gemalen

ORIGIN

Peru – Aprocassi Decaf ground

The Aprocassi cooperative was founded in 1999 by a group of small coffee farmers in San Ignacio. Today, the cooperative has 634 members, who collectively manage 1,535 hectares of farmland.

Because of the remote location and small scale of the farms, producers often depend on middlemen or cooperatives to get their coffee to market. Membership in a cooperative largely protects farmers from exploitation and can make a significant difference in their income from coffee. Currently, only about 15–25% of small-scale farmers belong to a cooperative.

Sugarcane decaffeination uses ethyl acetate (EA), a naturally occurring substance. In this case, the EA is derived from molasses, a byproduct of sugar production. The process is relatively simple: the coffee beans are moistened with water, then EA is circulated through them. The EA binds to the caffeine in the beans and removes it, while preserving most of the flavor compounds. Once the desired caffeine level is reached, the remaining EA is removed from the beans by steaming them.

Here’s how we brew this coffee!

The perfect espresso recipe depends on many factors: machine, grinder, water, portafilter basket, beans, etc. At our bar in The Hague, we usually start with this recipe:

19 grams of coffee for an output of 45 grams of espresso (a double espresso).

We start with a brew time of 25 seconds.