Origin: San Agustin, Huila, Colombia

Producers: Fabian Erazo, Nelson Ortega, Angel Ortega, Edinson Ordoñez, Gloria Ortega, Jonathon Muñoz, Lucrecia Hoyos, Dani Gomez, Lucelly Gomez, Jose Burbano, Fredi Ortega, Edwin Burbano, Dani Castillo, Elcio Galindez, Mauricio Montanchez

Process: Sugar Cane Ethyl Acetate Decaf

Varieties: Castillo, Caturra, Pink Bourbon, San Bernardo, Papayo, Catimor, Tabi

Elevation: 1650-2000 masl

Importer: Semilla & Monkaaba

Roast: Medium

Notes: Pear, Chocolate Strawberry, Almond Brittle

Transparency: 

• We paid Semilla 6.50 USD per pound of exportable green coffee + shipping & storage fees
• Farmgate price was $3,300,000 COP per Carga of parchment (national average was $3,000,000 COP at the time)
• FOB price was $5.89/lb.

Guarapo, EA decaf from San Agustin, Colombia.

Returning back to the menu is everyone's favourite decaf from our pals in San Agustin. Guarapo is affectionately named after the juice of the Sugar Cane Stalk, a favourite drink by producers and coffee pickers in the heat of harvest.

We love this project from Semilla and Monkaaba, and are so happy to see how it's grown. Semilla's goal with buying coffee is not simply to just buy whatever good coffee they find, it's to invest in select groups of small producers by buying all their coffee at a differentiated price (meaning higher than local prices).

The idea of an EA Decaf was originally resisted by Esnaider and Didier of Monkaaba, only seeing poorly executed examples of Decaffeinated coffee before. This resistance was melted away after tasting the results of the first batch of Guarapo Decaf.

Since that original harvest in 2021 the demand has soared for this amazing decaf, you have to get your name on the list early if you want some of it for your roastery!

This batch of Guarapo comes from the 15 smallholder producers named above. Each producer takes their parchment to the Monkaaba Bodega in San Agustin, where the coffee is tasted, sorted, and sent to the dry mill, before being sent to Descafecol where it undergoes decaffeination.

The process of decaffeination is quite simple - the milled green beans are steamed to remove the outer layer of silver skin, and are then moistened to open up the pores of the beans.  They are then submerged in a sugarcane derived ethyl acetate solution which strips the caffeine into the solution. The coffee is then steamed again to remove any remaining solution. The coffee is then dried to a moisture level below 12%.

This project is amazing as it opens the doors to buying more coffee from producers both big(relatively speaking) and small. Many of the coffees that are now destined for Guarapo were originally sold by the producers early in the harvest (sometimes as cherry, or wet verde) for quick cash to assist in the main harvest.

Semilla seeing the strain in asking for the producers to hold onto that coffee for longer, now offers a no-strings-attatched pre-payment of 30-50% based on estimated production and need while the cherry is still on the tree. This kind of commitment is amazing, and really shows that strong partnerships can go both ways.

We're so happy to get to continue working with amazing producers from San Agustin. In the cup we're getting ripe Pear, sweet Chocolate Strawberry, and fatty caramelly Almond Brittle.

Brewing Recommendations:

Pour-over: 1:16-17 ratio, easy to work with, brew it your favourite way, it won't disappoint! 

Espresso: 18g-18.5g in / 37g-39g out / 27-30 seconds.

Monkaaba

Working together, Semilla and Monkaaba provide a rare opportunity for most producers. They run a free to use cupping lab in San Agustin, Huila that allows small producers to taste their own coffees and receive feedback from veteran producers on how to improve quality.

This is extremely contrary to how most other buying systems work, and commodity works, where buyers benefit from coffee producers NOT knowing the quality of their coffee, so they can continue offering low prices to producers, and sell for higher profits.

This project is all about empowering and educating producers to reach micro-lot status, and financial stability through coffee production.

Interested in reading more about Monkaaba? Let me guide you to our lovely friends website to read more! - https://www.semilla.ca/projects/1jq18VvLX0WoyK7hvxeeLM