Divino niño decaf

Replica Roasters is one of those roasters that doesn’t view decaf coffee as a necessary evil, but as a discipline in its own right—from the very beginning, they’ve been actively seeking out exceptional decaf lots, and Divino Niño is exactly the kind of find that makes it all worthwhile. Behind this coffee are small-scale growers from the Suaza area in Colombia’s Huila* department, whose smaller harvests are combined into a single community lot. It is precisely the combination of micro-harvests from neighboring farmers that gives these small-scale producers the chance to reach the market at a better price and under their own name. Decaffeination is carried out using the Ethyl Acetate method, often referred to as “natural” decaf—EA is, in fact, a naturally occurring compound, a common byproduct of fruit fermentation that can also be found in ripe bananas or beer.

The principle is relatively simple: the beans are moistened with water, and EA is circulated through them; the EA binds to the caffeine and carries it away, while most of the flavor compounds remain intact. Once the desired caffeine level is reached, the remaining EA is removed from the beans through steaming. The result is a clean, balanced cup with high sweetness, where cherry and chocolate notes blend together.