Colombia La Hamaca Decaf - Rainbow Huila

pain au chocolate, dates, plum, praline cake

PROCESS: washed

REGION: huila

VARIETAL: castillo, caturra, colombia

ELEVATION: 1850 - 2010m

La Hamaca - Community Lot

When we set out to decaf coffees, we always try and start with the premise that decaf coffee can, and should, taste good. We want to present a coffee that would be defined by how it tastes, not by the absence of caffeine. 

The result is a coffee that feels like a long walk after a delicious meal at your favorite brunch spot. Sweet memories of fresh baked goods like chocolate croissants, peach cobble. Plus the clean notes reminiscent of La Hamaca; of fresh dates, sage and green grape that all can be found buried beneath the layered richness of its praline like cake body. 

Our other goal for this coffee was to produce something that would be versatile enough to work well in a variety of brewing methods–this was essential as many of our cafe partners use this decaf as an espresso option. So the next time you want to indulge in a delicious cup of coffee without the caffeine hit, reach for this one.

About the Ethyl Acetate decaffeination process:

Ethyl Acetate occurs naturally in many fruits, and is derived for the decaffeination process from the fermentation of sugarcane. The green coffee beans are steamed to prepare for the caffeine extraction. Next, they are soaked in water along with the ethyl acetate where the caffeine is stripped out through chemical compounds bonding together. Lastly, the beans are steamed a second time to clear away the remaining ethyl acetate.

This decaf from Gracenote Coffee sources from La Hamaca in Colombia's Huila region, where the producer cultivates a blend of Castillo, Caturra, and Colombia varietals at 1850–2010 meters altitude. The washed process brings clarity to the cup, yielding notes of pain au chocolate, dates, plum, and praline cake—a sweetly textured profile that demonstrates how decaffeination needn't sacrifice complexity. The combination of these three varietals creates layered fruit and cocoa-driven character typical of Huila's volcanic soils and cool highland conditions.