Half Caff is a blend of our Colombia Sugarcane decaf, and our Colombian Pink Panther. In combining the two, it holds a delicious flavour of caramel, cacao and citrus. This is the perfect cup of low caffeine coffee for those who want to drink an extra cup or two each day, without worrying about the side effects of too much caffeine. Below we detail the story and flavour profiles of the two coffees which make up this exciting blend.
Colombia Sugarcane
Our Colombian Sugarcane decaf offering is special in more ways than one: First, it’s been cupped specifically for its quality and sourced by single-origin, either region or farm. We call it Sugarcane Decaf because it’s custom decaffeinated in Colombia, using a special, natural process that utilises ethyl acetate (E.A.) derived from fermented sugar cane.
The process works by soaking steamed green coffee beans in a solution of E.A, a naturally occurring compound derived from fermented sugarcane, which bonds to the salts of chlorogenic acid in the coffee and allows for the removal of caffeine. The coffee is removed from the solution and steamed again at low pressure to remove any traces of E.A. inside the beans, and the finished product retains its flavour integrity but contains almost no caffeine at all. (The beans will contain a maximum of 0.01–0.03% caffeine.)
The most important part of EA coffee, and why it tastes so sweet, is it avoids high pressure and high heat, which degrades coffee quickly. This allows the natural flavours to shine through, making it the sweet and bright decaf that we so love.
Peru Organic Salkantay
In September 2025 we made our second origin trip to Peru to source beans from the Huadquina Cooperative in the remote town of Santa Teresa in the Sacred Valley. The valley winds for around 60km from the ancient Incan city of Cusco into the Andean highlands. It follows the spectacular Urubamba river and is surrounded by jagged peaks that include the fearsome, snow topped mountain Salkantay (6,271m) upon whose slopes this coffee is grown. The area is still deemed sacred by many as it was once at the heart of the Incan empire and is a relatively short distance from the famous Incan ruins at Machu Picchu.
Five producers contributed to this lot all growing coffee above 2000 meters on the slopes of Mt Salkantay. All are members of the 300 member strong Huadquina Co-operative whose offices, mill and warehouse is in the sleepy town of Santa Teresa on the banks of the Rio Urubamba.
The co-operative works with over 300 producers and astonishingly most of them are producing certified organic coffees. The quality of the coffee is very high with some Cup of Excellence winners and many of the lots scoring 86+ including the coffee in this lot. This is our second year sourcing coffee direct from the Huadquina co-operative and hope it will be a relationship that will continue to thrive in the coming years.
