Colombia - Swiss Water Decaf

About the Coffee

This decaf comes from Huila, a department in southern Colombia that sits at elevations between 1,500 and 2,000 meters. The region's high altitude and proximity to the Magdalena River create a climate that slows cherry maturation, which tends to build more complexity in the bean before it's ever processed. Huila has become one of Colombia's most consistent producing regions, with smallholder farmers typically working plots of 1 to 5 hectares.

The coffee is processed washed, meaning the fruit skin and pulp are removed before the beans are dried. This keeps the cup clean and lets the bean's natural character come through without the influence of extended fruit contact. After roasting, the coffee goes through Swiss Water processing, a chemical-free method developed in Canada that uses water and activated charcoal filters to remove more than 99.9% of caffeine while leaving the bean's soluble flavour compounds largely intact. It's the most widely trusted decaf method in specialty coffee.

Swiss Water processing was chosen deliberately here. Many decaf coffees use chemical solvents like methylene chloride or ethyl acetate, which are effective but carry trace residues and are harder to verify. The Swiss Water method is certified organic and produces a result that holds up much closer to the original coffee than older decaf processes typically do.

About Pallet Coffee Roasters

Pallet Coffee Roasters was established in East Vancouver in late 2014 with a straightforward goal: make good specialty coffee accessible to the broader community, not just people already deep into coffee culture. They're a locally owned operation, and that community focus has stayed consistent as they've grown.

Their sourcing is built around long-term relationships with producers. Rather than buying opportunistically, Pallet works with the same farmers and partners over time, which gives them more visibility into how the coffee is grown and processed before it arrives at their roastery.

"I stumbled on Pallet's Semlin Drive location while wandering around Vancouver nearly a decade ago, and since then, they've become a major player in Vancouver's coffee scene. Like a lot of roasters we feature, Pallet's strength is roasting coffees brilliantly across the spectrum - whether you're into darker coffees, brighter coffees, or something in between."

- Dean, Director of Coffee