SWP Decaf

About the Coffee

Sol y Café is a cooperative based in Cajamarca, Peru, working with smallholder farmers across the region. Their member farms sit at elevations ranging from 900 to 2,000 meters above sea level and grow a wide mix of varietals, including Typica, Caturra, Pache, Mundo Novo, Bourbon, Catuai, and Catimor. The cooperative focuses on supporting producers through fair compensation and consistent quality standards, giving farmers a reason to keep improving their processing and growing practices from one harvest to the next.

This particular lot was selected by the team at Royal Coffee, No6's importer, based on cup profile, physical preparation, and how well the green coffee would hold up through decaffeination. After selection, it goes through the Swiss Water Process (SWP), a chemical-free method that removes caffeine using a water-based solution called Green Coffee Extract (GCE). The GCE is a concentrated mix of coffee solubles that pulls caffeine out of the green beans through osmosis while keeping most of the flavour compounds intact. Once the caffeine is removed, the coffee is re-dried and re-bagged. The GCE gets filtered through carbon filters to remove the caffeine and is then recycled and used again.

The result is a decaf that starts with traceable, specialty-grade green coffee and goes through a process designed to protect what makes it worth drinking in the first place. No6 stores all their green coffee in sealed GrainPro bags in a low-humidity environment and roasts in small batches, so by the time it reaches you, the coffee has been handled carefully at every step.

About No6 Coffee Co.

No6 Coffee Co. was founded in 2015 in Nelson, British Columbia, with the goal of making better coffee more accessible while building genuine connections across the supply chain. They operate as a boutique roastery and tasting bar, and their sourcing approach is built around working with importers who maintain long-term direct relationships with the producers they buy from.

They source exclusively through independent specialty importers and pay above fair-trade premiums, which they see as necessary for the kind of quality and farmer investment they care about. Every coffee they buy is traceable back to a small farm or cooperative, and they roast in small batches on a weekly schedule to keep things fresh.

"I sat with Denis, owner of No6 Coffee Co, this past January. One of the more memorable moments from our conversation was when he explained that No6 is is not looking to roast the most unusual or headline-worthy coffee, but to master the technique of coffee roasting and produce simply great cups of coffee for just about everyone."

- Dean, Director of Coffee