DETAILS
We bought this coffee right at the cupping table. Sometimes that means we don’t know much about the coffee itself, but we always do as much digging for information as possible!
El Yalcon decaf is grown along an isolated set of mountains within the central cordillera of the Andes that go through Pitalito, Acevedo, Palestina, Timaná, and Suaza. This coffee represents the work of 24 different individual producers from the municipalities of La Plata, Nataga, Paez, Pital, and Tesalia. The producers are committed to quality and excellence.
Coffee is carefully hand-sorted and processed at each individual farm, with special attention paid to the drying process to ensure consistency, uniformity, and a clean cup profile.
Oh, by the way: this coffee is decaffeinated. I say this as a 'by-the-way' because it’s the least important part of this coffee's name.
It was decaffeinated in Colombia. This might not sound remarkable, but most coffee is decaffeinated in either Canada or Germany. This adds food miles to the coffee, which is not good. What decaffeination in a coffee’s producing country does is add value at the place where I’m very happy to add value; that is, around 40 KM from the warehouse where the shipments are collated.
Take a look at the blog post here for more information on how the coffee is decaffeinated. 'SC' stands for sugar cane, because the decaffeination agent ethyl acetate is naturally derived from sugar cane.
The sweetness of the processing here really stands out with a mix of milk chocolate and brown sugar. There's a hit of satsuma too, which gives chocolate orange upfront and a slightly brighter and fresh finish as the chocolate slips away on the finish.
- Country: Colombia
- Department: Huila
- Coffee: El Yalcon
- Independent producers: 24
- Altitude: 1,500–1,750 m.a.s.l.
- Varietals grown: Caturra
- Processing method: Washed in micro-mills at each farm
- Decaffeination: Descafecol plant in Colombia: uses ethyl acetate derived from a natural source – namely sugar cane
CUPPING NOTES
Milk chocolate, brown sugar, satsuma
Clean cup: (1–8): 6
Sweetness: (1–8): 6.5
Acidity: (1–8): 6
Mouthfeel: (1–8): 6
Flavour: (1–8): 6
Aftertaste: (1–8): 6
Balance: (1–8): 6
Overall: (1–8): 6.5
Correction: (+36) :+36
Total: (max. 100): 85
Roast Information
Medium-dark – let it develop a little between cracks and then drop just as you approach second. Beware that the visual appearance can be misleading!
