Decaffeinated Peru Org. – Royal Select – MWP

Burman Coffee Traders

Details

Origin

Peru

Process

Mountain Water

Roast Suitability

Description

This is a regional lot from Chanchamayo, in the Junin region, on the eastern slopes of the Andes between 1,400 and 1,600 masl. There is no single farm or cooperative behind it: it is an aggregate of certified organic coffee from that area, Bourbon, Catimor, Caturra and Pache, picked in the May to June harvest and dried on patios. Junin is the second largest organic coffee region in Peru with more than 55,000 certified hectares, and the country sits at the top of the world list for organic coffee, so a clean regional organic lot like this one is about as typical as Peru gets. The caffeine comes out after export, in Cordoba, Veracruz, Mexico, with the Mountain Water Process. The beans are steamed first so they open up, then soaked in a water based solution that already carries every soluble compound coffee has except caffeine. Since the solution is already saturated with everything else, the only thing the water can pull out is caffeine, and the sugars and acids that build flavor stay in the bean. The solution is adjusted for each origin, and after several rounds of soaking the coffee is dried back to 10 to 12 percent moisture, run through a dry mill that takes out defects and loose chaff, and lab tested under 0.01 percent caffeine. Tasting Notes: Caramel, milk chocolate and orange, in a smooth cup with gentle acidity and medium body. Light roasts keep the orange up front and the sweetness cleaner, with a lighter body. Medium roasts are where it rounds out: caramel and milk chocolate take over, the orange turns into a soft edge and the body gets fuller. Dark roasts push into darker, bittersweet chocolate with more body, and you lose most of the fruit and part of the sweetness. Roasting Notes: Decaf beans are dark to start, so one will have to go by sound, smell and time after first crack to judge roast level. They are drier and more porous than caffeinated coffee, so they take heat faster and can get ahead of you, so ease off the heat at the end of the drying phase. F