Swiss Water® Decaf

About the Coffee

This decaf comes from the highlands of Acatenango, Guatemala, a volcanic region sitting between 1,500 and 2,000 meters above sea level. The altitude and rich volcanic soil slow the growth of the coffee cherry, which tends to produce denser beans with more developed flavour. Acatenango sits in Guatemala's south-central highlands and has become one of the more recognized growing regions in the country for producing clean, well-structured coffee.

After harvest, the coffee goes through the Swiss Water® Process to remove caffeine. Unlike chemical solvent methods, Swiss Water® uses hot water and a carbon filter system to strip caffeine while keeping the soluble compounds that carry flavour intact. The result is a cup that retains a lot of what makes the original coffee worth drinking. The process is also certified organic and takes place at the Swiss Water facility in Burnaby, British Columbia.

Decaf has a reputation problem, and most of it comes from how the coffee is processed and sourced. Starting with good green coffee from a region like Acatenango and using a gentler decaffeination method makes a real difference in what ends up in the cup.

About Bright Jenny

Dave Upshaw started Bright Jenny in Kelowna, BC, after bouncing through a few careers that never quite fit. He got his real estate license, worked as an agent for three years, tried paramedic training, and spent time in the craft beer industry. Coffee kept pulling him back. He taught himself to roast using YouTube, a popcorn maker, and eventually a drum he built from a stainless steel cylinder and a modified BBQ rotisserie. No computers, no roast graphs, just heat, smell, and sound. That original roaster is still sitting in the Bright Lab if you want to go look for it.

Bright Jenny sources as directly as possible and pays a premium for green coffee because Dave sees quality as something that starts at the farm, not the roaster. The roastery's job, in his words, is to get out of the way and let the best version of the bean come through. That same DIY, figure-it-out approach that started with a backyard BBQ roaster still runs through how they operate today, just with better equipment and fewer near-disasters. (Though there have been a few of those too.)

"Bright Jenny is another roaster we love for how seriously they take their craft without taking themselves too seriously. The result: a panel of excellently roasted and delicious coffees that fit a broad set of tastes. The owner (Dave Upshaw) himself considers their dark roast, Smoke & Mirrors, among his favourites, to which Dave says: "yes, coffee nerds are allowed to like dark roasts.""

- Dean, Director of Coffee