Atunkaa- Argelia, Colombia | Washed, Sugarcane Decaf
Unroasted raw green coffee beans
| Owner: | - |
| Producers: | - |
| Location: | Argelia, Cauca |
| Varietal: | Colombia, Castillo & Caturra |
| Process: | Sugarcane Decaf, Washed |
| Altitude: | 1,700-2,000masl |
| Harvest year: | 2024 |
| Cup Score: |
84.5 |
| Cup profile: |
Lemon verbena, orange chocolate, praline and brown sugar |
This coffee comes from the municipality of Argelia, south west of Cauca. Cauca is the fourth largest producer of specialty coffee in Colombia with around 90,000 smallholder farmers all producing coffee on approximately 1ha of land. Often these farmers are part of small associations who have very limited access to market as well as limited resources to find channels to sell their coffees at the premiums they could achieve.
The Argelia municipality is located in an area that was plagued by the civil unrest and illegal drug trade for many years. This is still a pertinent problem for the families living here.
Siruma Coffee, a small specialty female-led exporter, launched a project to support five small Associations incorporating about 220 families who grow coffee for their livelihood. It started in 2020 in Argelia and was funded by USAID. Siruma provided technical assistance on the ground with their agronomist educating farmers on pre-and post-harvest techniques. The producers were also trained in sensory analysis of the coffees, how their own coffees taste and the impact of processing on quality. Siruma also helped to provide commercial specialty channels for the coffees though the partnership with Falcon Coffees who buy all the coffee sourced from this project.
The farmers from these associations all have small 1ha farms and have mix of varieties including Typica, Tabi, Caturra, Castillo and Colombia.
The families harvest and dry their own coffee which is then taken to the association where it is stored and producers receive an initial payment for their coffees. The coffee is then assessed by the Siruma team. All coffees purchased must meet the physical quality specifications required. Producers received on average 9.5% more than the local market rate for their coffees.
The Sugar Cane Decaf Process
The coffee first undergoes steaming at low pressures to remove the silver skins before then being moistened with hot water to allow the beans to swell and soften. This then prepares the coffee for the hydrolysis of caffeine, which is attached to the salts of the chlorogenic acid within the coffee. The extractors (naturally obtained from the fermentation of sugar cane and not from chemical synthesis) are then filled with moistened coffee which is washed several times with the natural ethyl acetate solvent, to reduce the caffeine down to the correct levels. Once this process is finished the coffee then must be cleaned of the remaining ethyl acetate by using a flow of low pressured saturated steam, before moving onto the final steps. From here the coffee is sent to vacuum drying drums where the water previously used to moisten the beans is removed and the coffee dried to between 10-12%.
The coffee is then cooled quickly to ambient temperature using fans before the final step of carnauba wax being applied to polish and provide the coffee with protection against environmental conditions and to help provide stability. From here, the coffee is the packed into bags ready for export.