Half Caff is a blend of our Colombia Sugarcane decaf, and our most recent True North offering. 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.
Guatemala La Concepcion
Around the turn of the 20th century (1890), don Anacleto Marroquin, a first-generation coffee producer, in an attempt to benefit from the boom of the coffee industry that resulted from the enactment of policies of the central government which favored this industry, bought Finca Esperanza, in the valley of Acatenango, together with his wife Higinia Melendez.
The original farm was about 250 hectares in size. In 1910, don Anacleto’s daughter Maria Natalia and her husband Maximiliano Perez inherited the farm, and started planting it anew. All of the production in the following decades was transported with donkeys and mules to the town of Acatenango, a two-and-a-half-hour-long trip, to be processed in one of the few wet mills in the area. It was not until 1956 when Maximiliano built their own wet mill in the farm and started to introduce Caturra as the main varietal in the farm. In 1968 Finca La Esperanza won 2nd prize of the national competition for coffees grown above 4000 ft. In 1978, Maria Natalia and Maximiliano’s daughters Berta and Julia inherit the farm and manage it for another 3 decades, selling part of it in the process, before finally selling the farm to don Hector Leal in the early 2010’s. Today, formerly known as La Esperanza, Finca Concepcion is comprised of 100 hectares and the owner, putting his 65+ years of coffee work and knowledge to use, has transformed the farm with new growing methods and varietals which include H1, H3, Casiopea, Gesha, Ethiopean Dwarf, Pink Bourbon, amongst others, producing an exquisite cup of coffee.
