Mexico - Las Cotorras Decaf

When we decided to start a small roastery, we knew that our smaller scale and our quality/provenance expectations would require working in partnership with exporters and mills who share our values, and have more expertise and dedicated resource within parts of the value chain where scale and locality really matters. This decaf coffee is a great example of that. 

Working with Caravela, whose long term relationship work has been incredibly impactful within the regions they operate, we’ve been able to source this Mexican coffee from the Las Cotorras group. The farmers who contribute to Las Cotorras have learned about coffee through generations, with some of these small farms being established after foreign landowners left the state and the land being redistributed. These large farms had been  dedicated to coffee production from the beginning. Over the generations, coffee (and coffee farming) has become part of the local culture, although access to information and resources has historically been limited. In recent years, they have improved their processing techniques and facilities and adopted new coffee varieties, leading to enhanced quality and better prices.

The producers receive personalized visits from Caravelas PECA Educators and attend workshops to produce organic fertilizers using organic waste from the farm. This approach has helped producers become more conscious of their environmental impact. To date, 300 organic farmers contribute to the Las cotorras community group. This rapid growth led caravela to open a warehouse in 2022, equipped with a cupping lab, an on-the-ground PECA technician, and a Quality Control Analyst. They provide training and orientation to producers year-round.

Caravela Coffee's PECA program (Grower Education Program) provides training and technical assistance to coffee farmers to improve their quality, productivity, and profitability, ultimately fostering sustainable and prosperous coffee communities. Through the program, PECA analysts offer farm-level support, data collection, and educational resources to help farmers manage their businesses, improve farm practices, and ensure the long-term viability of their operations and the coffee supply chain. 

Following washed processing this lot was shipped to Veracruz for decaffeination, adding further value within the Mexican economy. 

In this decaf process

• Green coffee undergoes submersion in glacial water sourced from Pico de Orizaba.
• The water becomes infused with caffeine and captures some of the soluble flavour inherent in the green coffee.
• Passing through carbon filters, the water effectively eliminates caffeine content.
• The now caffeine-free water is reintroduced to the green coffee allowing it to re-assimilate the soluble flavour.

It’s a chemical and flavour neutral process that allows the quality of the terroir and farming to shine through.

A medium roast that holds up well as espresso or filter. It really is a crazy good cup - crowd pleasing flavour profile, with gentle acidity, brown sugar sweetness and a long finish

Espresso 18:40g 22s

Filter 24:400g 3:00s