Lala Salama, Uganda| Sparkling Water Decaf

€25,87

Unroasted raw green coffee beans

Availability : In Stock Pre order Out of stock


Producer: Norman Muruku
Location: Mbale, Mount Elgon
Varietal: SL14, SL28 & Nyasaland
Process: Sparkling Water Decaf
Altitude: 1800-2200masl
Cup Score: 84.5
Cup profile:

Cherry, plum, dark chocolate & almond

 

HURRY! ONLY LEFT IN STOCK.

Size: 1kg

1kg
5kg
Description

Lala Salama means 'Sleep Well' in Swahili. There couldn't be a more fitting name to bestow upon our new regular feature of Sparkling Water Decaffeinated coffee from the African continent.

The Coffee Yard is a new commercial partner this year to The Coffee Gardens who are supporting Norman Mukuru and his team to bring his coffees to Falcon Specialty to the UK and EU. The Coffee Gardens have known Norman for a number of years and built a relationship on sharing knowledge and learning from each other around processing and creating farmer traceabilty programs. It is based off this history and trust that they have been able to develop the relationship to now export Nornan's coffee.   Based in the foothills of Mount Elgon souring coffee from the districts of Sironko, Mbale, Bulambuli and Kapchorwa Norman established The Coffee Yard which is a huge center for receiving and drying coffee. Norman has extensive experience in coffee working for nearly 20 years in the in and he has been producing naturals since 2018 often tweaking his processes to find the profiles that his clients have been looking for.  The cherry is delivered to the from the 4 regions around The Coffee Yard where Norman and is team then set about the processing of the naturals.  

  • 1) The coffee is delivered to the station where it is then floated and hand picked to remove any unwanted cherries  
  • 2) Drip drying of the cherry to remove the initial moisture from the coffee on raised beds  
  • 3) A second separation of the cherry due to moisture level and colour to create uniform batches  
  • 4) Fermentation either in sealed barrels or in an open tank depending on the end profile they are looking to create. For the more 'floral' profile as this one is it is done in open tanks.  
  • 5) The coffee is then dried on raised beds or tarpaulin for around 21 days until it reached below 12%.  The coffee is then stored to rest and homogenise before Norman and the team hull the coffee and then prepare the green for export using hand picking and a colour sorter.

    The Sparkling Water Process

    This process was first discovered by a scientist called Kurt Zosel at the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research in 1967 as he was looking at new ways of separating mixtures of substances. In 1988, a German decaffeination company called CR3 developed this process for decaffeination whereby natural carbon dioxide (which comes from prehistoric underground lakes) is combined with water to create ‘sub-critical’ conditions which creates a highly solvent substance for caffeine in coffee. It is a gentle, natural and organically certified process and the good caffeine selectivity of the carbon dioxide guarantees a high retention level of other coffee components which contribute to taste and aroma.

    The process is outlined below:
    The green beans enter a ‘pre-treatment’ vessel where they are cleaned and moistened with water before being brought into contact with pressurised liquid carbon dioxide. When the green coffee beans absorb the water, they expand and the pores are opened resulting in the caffeine molecules becoming mobile.

    After the water has been added, the beans are then brought into contact with the pressurised liquid carbon dioxide which combines with the water to essentially form sparkling water. The carbon dioxide circulates through the beans and acts like a magnet, drawing out the mobile caffeine molecules.The sparkling water then enters an evaporator which precipitates the caffeine rich carbon dioxide out of the water. The now caffeine-free water is pumped back into the vessel for a new cycle.
    This cycle is repeated until the required residual caffeine level is reached. Once this has happened, the circulation of carbon dioxide is stopped and the green beans are discharged into a drier.The decaffeinated coffee is then gently dried until it reaches its original moisture content, after which it is ready for roasting.

    There are several benefits to using this process for decaffeination:
    The agent used for extracting the caffeine is entirely natural and the process can be classified as ‘organic’ due to the complete lack of chemicals used throughout. There is also no health risk by consuming coffee that has been decaffeinated in this way.

    The way the process works means the other compounds in the green bean are left untouched, meaning decaffeination has no effect on the flavour and aroma of the finished product. The carbon dioxide is very selective and doesn’t extract the carbohydrates and proteins in the green bean which contribute to flavour and smell. The cell structure of the green bean and the finished roasted bean is unchanged which is of great advantage when working with speciality coffees. The by-products are 100% natural and recyclable.