The Sugar Cane Decaf Process is a gentle process. First the coffee undergoes steaming at low pressures to remove the silver skins before then being moistened with hot water to allow the beans to swell and soften. This then prepares the coffee for the hydrolysis of caffeine, which is attached to the salts of the chlorogenic acid within the coffee. The extractors (naturally obtained from the fermentation of sugar cane and not from chemical synthesis) are then filled with moistened coffee which is washed several times with the natural ethylacetate solvent, to reduce the caffeine down to the correct levels..
Asorcafe was founded on July 11, 2003 in the town of Pedegral in Inza and currently there are 290 members who are part of the association. The association was set up to help these producers become organised to sell their coffees as specialty but also provide a framework and structure to further their education and progression to improve the economic and social conditions for themselves, their families and their community.
Asorcafe is an association of small producers working on plots of land between 1.8 – 2 ha in size and farm coffee up to altitudes of 2100 masl. The farms are planted with caturra, typica, bourbon, tabi, castillo and some pink bourbon.
Traditionally the coffee is fully washed and once harvested the coffee is then pulped and fermented for between 20-40 hours depending on the local environment. After this the coffee is washed and any immatures removed and then it is dried for between 8 – 15 days weather depending in parabolic driers.
