Colombia - Granja Paraiso 92 | Anaerobic Natural EA DECAF Red Bourbon

About the Coffee

Wilton Benitez has spent over 26 years growing coffee in Colombia, with more than 16 of those focused specifically on specialty production. He runs Granja Paraiso 92 in Colombia's Cauca region, farming at 1,900 to 2,100 meters above sea level. Wilton is a Q-grader and processor who designed and built much of the farm's equipment himself, with help from his brother.

What sets Granja Paraiso 92 apart is the level of control Wilton brings to fermentation. He uses bioreactors and specific microorganisms to manage the process, monitoring temperature, pH, brix degrees, and electrical conductivity throughout. This lot goes through 48 hours of whole cherry anaerobic fermentation (where the coffee cherries ferment in a sealed, oxygen-free environment), then gets washed and dried at 38 degrees Celsius for another 48 hours. The drying machines on the farm run on electricity rather than fossil fuels, which cuts greenhouse gas emissions from that part of the process.

This coffee is decaffeinated using the EA sugarcane method. Ethyl acetate, derived from fermented cane sugar, is used to remove the caffeine before roasting. It's a naturally sourced solvent that's gentler on the coffee's character than some other decaf processes, and it leaves the sugars largely intact.