With this coffee, a little caution is advised. Although it will not put you on your feet, it is a ticking fruit bomb. Decaf coffees have long had their place on our shelves and in our hearts, but this one quickly turned our habits upside down. From the very first encounter, it delivered a juicy punch straight to the taste buds. Is this really a decaf? This fruity? This expressive? We could not walk past it indifferently, nor resist sharing what the renowned Nogales farm is doing with caffeine-free coffee. Nogales is a family-run farm led today by Oscar Hernandez, a third-generation farmer from Huila, who has been breaking coffee conventions for years, a mindset confirmed by a Cup of Excellence win in 2006.
The processing begins in a classic way. Hand harvesting, flotation to separate only ripe cherries, followed by 24 hours of fermentation and thorough washing. The coffee is then gently dried on raised beds until it reaches the desired moisture level.
Only then does the decaffeination begin. First, the beans are immersed for four hours in hot water at 40°C, allowing the caffeine to be extracted. This step is repeated twice. Next, a natural must is used, an extract obtained from the husk and pulp of the coffee cherry. The entire process relies solely on components derived from the coffee itself. Finally, the beans are washed once more and dried again, preserving clarity in the cup and the coffee’s natural sweetness.