Roasted for Espresso & Filter  |  Candied Orange, Sultana, Almonds

Creamy and balanced with fruity notes of candied orange and sultanas. The finish is like milk chocolate and sugared almonds.

This year we have finally been able to select our own bespoke lot for decaffeination. Paying close attention to all the coffees we buy means we have always treated our decaf purchases with the same care and rigour as all lots we buy, but we have finally reached the volumes whereby we can purchase an entire lot to be decaffeinated in Colombia (the plant in Manizales processes 70 sacks to create 58 bags of decaffeinated green coffee). 

The Producers

This lot from La Plata in Colombia’s Huila region has been created by combining high quality outturns from 7 farmers in and around the small parish of San Sebastian. Producers such as Gina Samara Jalvin, Gloria Isabel Garcia, Ivonne Andrea Oviedo and Laura Ramirez are amongst the larger contributors. The coffee varieties being tended to are typical for the region, comprising Caturra, Castillo & Variedad Colombia. These are planted amongst Cambulo and Guamo trees, which are nitrogen fixing, as well as Cedro and other native trees which provide shade and increase biodiversity on the farms. During harvest the cherries are selected by hand when ripe, traditionally depulped and fermented before being fully washed and dried either on covered patios or raised beds in polytunnels. Once cupped, assessed and collated the lots are sent for decaffeination.

The Decaffeination Process:

Having tasted various options in their regular and subsequent decaffeinated state we have been able to secure a coffee that has a sweet, clean cup profile and has best maintained its character and integrity after the decaffeination process.

For the last eight years we’ve solely purchased decaffeinated coffees that have undergone the Sugar Cane Ethyl Acetate process. Not only does this method provide a secondary income to the producing country, but the green coffee only needs to be transported once rather than twice. Obviously more eco-friendly and less costly, it has a huge impact on cup quality too. The conditions in which coffee is transported are rarely conducive to preserving quality, and so avoiding this process from happening twice is always beneficial for the cup. The coffee, having been shipped only once unlike most decaf options that arrive into the UK via Mexico, Canada or Germany, tastes all the fresher for it.   

The actual solvent doing the work of decaffeinating the green coffee at Descafecol is derived from fermenting and making an alcohol from sugar cane. This is combined with spring water and is used to wash the caffeine out of the steamed green coffee until less than 0.1% of the original caffeine content remains. 

The Exporter:

Typically, Caravela operate an 80/20 model, working with a vast majority of smallholders and a minority of farmers with large coffee estates. In their latest impact report 87% of their producing partners had farms of less than 5 hectares in size. More than half of the producers they worked with were visited by their PECA team, and in Colombia alone they are working with 1,746 producers across 52 communities.

As regards their PECA program, they have said the below:

“Coffee growers are the heart of our business model, without them we could not maintain and sustain this value chain. They are responsible for producing the best coffees that delight us every day. The Coffee Growers Education Program (PECA) has developed a symbiotic relationship between coffee growers and Caravela since we’re always learning from each other. For many years, we have accumulated experiences throughout experimentation and work that provides tools to empower and educates coffee growers, resulting in consistent high-quality coffees.”

Roasted for Espresso & Filter  |  Candied Orange, Sultana, Almonds

Creamy and balanced with fruity notes of candied orange and sultanas. The finish is like milk chocolate and sugared almonds.

This year we have finally been able to select our own bespoke lot for decaffeination. Paying close attention to all the coffees we buy means we have always treated our decaf purchases with the same care and rigour as all lots we buy, but we have finally reached the volumes whereby we can purchase an entire lot to be decaffeinated in Colombia (the plant in Manizales processes 70 sacks to create 58 bags of decaffeinated green coffee). 

The Producers

This lot from La Plata in Colombia’s Huila region has been created by combining high quality outturns from 7 farmers in and around the small parish of San Sebastian. Producers such as Gina Samara Jalvin, Gloria Isabel Garcia, Ivonne Andrea Oviedo and Laura Ramirez are amongst the larger contributors. The coffee varieties being tended to are typical for the region, comprising Caturra, Castillo & Variedad Colombia. These are planted amongst Cambulo and Guamo trees, which are nitrogen fixing, as well as Cedro and other native trees which provide shade and increase biodiversity on the farms. During harvest the cherries are selected by hand when ripe, traditionally depulped and fermented before being fully washed and dried either on covered patios or raised beds in polytunnels. Once cupped, assessed and collated the lots are sent for decaffeination.

The Decaffeination Process:

Having tasted various options in their regular and subsequent decaffeinated state we have been able to secure a coffee that has a sweet, clean cup profile and has best maintained its character and integrity after the decaffeination process.

For the last eight years we’ve solely purchased decaffeinated coffees that have undergone the Sugar Cane Ethyl Acetate process. Not only does this method provide a secondary income to the producing country, but the green coffee only needs to be transported once rather than twice. Obviously more eco-friendly and less costly, it has a huge impact on cup quality too. The conditions in which coffee is transported are rarely conducive to preserving quality, and so avoiding this process from happening twice is always beneficial for the cup. The coffee, having been shipped only once unlike most decaf options that arrive into the UK via Mexico, Canada or Germany, tastes all the fresher for it.   

The actual solvent doing the work of decaffeinating the green coffee at Descafecol is derived from fermenting and making an alcohol from sugar cane. This is combined with spring water and is used to wash the caffeine out of the steamed green coffee until less than 0.1% of the original caffeine content remains. 

The Exporter:

Typically, Caravela operate an 80/20 model, working with a vast majority of smallholders and a minority of farmers with large coffee estates. In their latest impact report 87% of their producing partners had farms of less than 5 hectares in size. More than half of the producers they worked with were visited by their PECA team, and in Colombia alone they are working with 1,746 producers across 52 communities.

As regards their PECA program, they have said the below:

“Coffee growers are the heart of our business model, without them we could not maintain and sustain this value chain. They are responsible for producing the best coffees that delight us every day. The Coffee Growers Education Program (PECA) has developed a symbiotic relationship between coffee growers and Caravela since we’re always learning from each other. For many years, we have accumulated experiences throughout experimentation and work that provides tools to empower and educates coffee growers, resulting in consistent high-quality coffees.”

Roasted for Espresso & Filter |  Raspberry, Chocolate, Nougat

Comprised of 50% decaffeinated coffee. Designed for productive afternoons and restful evenings. Look for flavours of roasted almonds, sweet raspberry & milk chocolate.

Comprised of 50% decaffeinated coffee we find ourselves drawn to this blend in the afternoons and evenings, when the prospect of a full jolt of caffeine becomes less appealing but there are still tasks to complete before the day is out. A chance to reset and remain on an even keel rather than overdo it and regret it later on.

Our single origin coffees vary throughout the year, depending on what is tasting best each month. We have, in recent years, found that with careful planning we are able to curate a line of Colombian coffee that tastes fresh and expressive throughout the calendar year, thanks to this producing country having multiple harvesting and shipping periods. Given our soft spot for espresso roasts of coffees from Huila region we recently launched our El Nevado Espresso, a perennially available single origin Colombian coffee. We’re also selecting lots from Huila to send for decaffeination, this year featuring a lot from La Plata, and so weaving these two product lines together makes for a harmonious tasting half-caff coffee. 

The Producers

We are currently featuring coffee from 8 farmers who contribute to the La Magdalena  community. A select few of the farmers who have contributed significant chunks of coffee to this lot include Nicomedes Benavides, Nito Arbey Molina Navia and Edgar Yony Melo Gomez, the latter two having cup of excellence awards amongst their accolades. The members grow their coffee in the municipality of San Agustín in Huila, which is one of our all-time favourite regions of Colombia, in the veredas (wards) of La Argentina, La Llanada, La Muralla and Naranjos. Dotted on their various coffee farms are shade trees including Cachingo, Guamo (Ice-cream Bean), Carbonero and various citrus and avocado trees. The farms range from just 1 up to 5 hectares in size, and are planted out with a combination of Caturra, Castillo and Variedad Colombia, spanning from around 1,700 all the way up to 2,100 metres above sea level. 

Fertile soils with volcanic ash deposits coupled with the high altitudes, quality varieties and agronomical training and support from Caravela all lead to a group of coffee growers who are reliably producing clean, sweet lots that we feel make for very juicy, complex espresso. Each farmer may practice variations on fermentation, size of batches and for different periods, so we can’t be hugely specific with any fermentation details here. Some of them then use raised beds in a polytunnel to dry their coffee, whilst others use their rooftop patios which can be shaded from the sun or sheltered from the rain by sliding a corrugated iron cover over the drying coffee.

The Exporter

Typically, Caravela operate an 80/20 model, working with a vast majority of smallholders and a minority of farmers with large coffee estates. In their latest impact report 87% of their producing partners had farms of less than 5 hectares in size. More than half of the producers they worked with were visited by their PECA team, and in Colombia alone they are working with 1,746 producers across 52 communities.

As regards their PECA program, they have said the below:

“Coffee growers are the heart of our business model, without them we could not maintain and sustain this value chain. They are responsible for producing the best coffees that delight us every day. The Coffee Growers Education Program (PECA) has developed a symbiotic relationship between coffee growers and Caravela since we’re always learning from each other. For many years, we have accumulated experiences throughout experimentation and work that provides tools to empower and educates coffee growers, resulting in consistent high-quality coffees.”