Taste Notes: Milk chocolate, Orange and Walnut
 
Best suited for Espresso based drinks.
 
Origin: Brazil
Producer: Volcafe Santos
Region: Minas Geiras
Variety: Catuai, Mundo Novo
Process: E.A Water Decaf, Natural
Altitude: 900 MASL
 
Happy Capybara decaf is a regional blend from Minas Gerais. In terms of area, Minas Gerais is the 4th largest state in Brazil, but when it comes to Arabica cultivation, the region is the most important in the country. It produces about 74% of Brazil’s total coffee volume. In fact Minas Gerais produces more coffee than any other coutry in the world!
 
The country’s history of coffee is fascinating and so successful that today one can hardly distinguish between the words coffee and Brazil. The first coffee plant was imported into the country’s northernmost state, Pará, in 1727 and cultivated for the first time. This is where the success story of the small beans began. Within 50 years, the plant spread throughout the entire country. At that time, however, coffee was only cultivated by European colonialists for their own use.
 
It was only when European and US demand grew in the mid-19th century and supplies became scarce that Brazil began to play an important role in the coffee trade. It quickly became clear that the enormous area of the country, the many microclimates and varieties of the landscapes were perfect, scalable growing conditions. In 1820, Brazil produced 30% of the world’s coffee supply, but by 1920 it was already producing 80%. Needless to say that Brazil plays a crucial in the world’s coffee indutry.
 
THE WATER-EA-DECAFFEINATION
The water-EA-decaffeination method is quite simple. A natural solvent, in this case ethyl acetate (EA), is used to decaffeinate the coffee beans. The process starts by soaking the green coffee in water and then steaming it for about 30 minutes to open the pores and expand the coffee cells. This makes the caffeine extraction possible. Then the green beans are soaked and washed in ethyl acetate solu - tion, which attracts and removes the caffeine. Once the coffee is saturated, the tank is emptied and a fresh solution is poured in, which is done for another eight hours. Then the coffee undergoes steaming, which removes the EA. After drying, cooling and pol - ishing the beans, a final quality control determines whether the coffee is ready for roasting.