MADRE LAURA, Decaf 10oz

Region: Jericó, Antioquia
Producer: Multi producer Lot
Varietal: Dos Mil, Caturra, Castillo
Process: Washed
Decaffeination: Sugarcane

This decaf is a medium roast and makes a “Classic Colombian” cup - marked by notes of rich milk chocolate and a caramel sweetness. At it’s best we are getting a nice citric acidity, think orange or tangerine.

MADRE LAURA is a community coffee that is carefully blended by maintaining a consistent profile. It is made up of coffee beans from 120+ farmers in Jericó ; each lot is cupped and analyzed to meet that perfectly balanced profile that best represents the town of Jericó.

This is our first time working with this coffee and our first time working with Campesino. Given the quality of coffee we’ve tried and the outstanding work we’ve witnessed in Colombia, we hope this is a coffee we bring back year after year.

Sugarcane decaffeination utilizes a naturally occurring compound, ethyl acetate (EA) to decaffeinate coffee. The EA used in this process is derived from molasses (a byproduct of sugar production). Since EA is naturally-occurring, the process is labeled as “naturally decaffeinated.”
The EA process is relatively simple. The coffee beans are moistened with water and EA is circulated throughout. The EA binds with the caffeine in the bean and extracts the caffeine while leaving most of the other flavor compounds. After the desired caffeine level is reached, the EA residue on the beans is removed by steaming them.

Campesino Coffee is a Colombian based specialty coffee company with a warehouse and coffee school in Southwest Antioquia and a main office and lab in Medellin.
We met Daniel Velasquez, the owner of Campesino Coffee the company, during an origin trip to Colombia last year. While there Nico had the chance to visit a few farms that make up this Madre Laura lot, as well as the collection/purchasing site that Campesino runs in Jericó.

The warehouse also acts as a coffee education school and aims to educate producers and coffee professionals with the goal to increase quality scores which lead to better financial returns for the farmers. A major issue facing Colombia’s coffee growing industry today is the urbanization of its youth. Programs like this also invest and look to engage the youth.This program alone is something that made us want to support Daniel and his team. See the blurb below from his website:

"Our coffee school is located on the second floor of our warehouse. The school consists of a full coffee laboratory in addition to a classroom setting and is aimed at providing coffee education to our producer partners and their families. The end goal is making coffee farming a sustainable business for all of our partners and bring the youth back to their farms, to their roots, and continue their family coffee traditions.