Colombia Swiss Water Process Decaf (16 oz)

Colombia Decaf Excelso EP SWP

The Story Behind Decaf Excelso EP SWP

Colombia is the world's 3rd largest coffee growing country producing approximately 11-13 million 60kg bags per year. Average farms size is quite small at 1-5 hectares. Primary high quality growing zones include the Central departments of Antioquia (Medellin) and Caldas and the Southern departments of Huila, Cauca and Nariño.

Our green coffee for Decaf Excelso EP SWP is sourced from small growers in the Antioquia department then exported to Swiss Water in Delta, British Columbia, Canada for decaffeination.

The Swiss Water Process is a patented decaffeination method that uses only water to remove 99.9% of a coffee's caffeine content. Heat and time are also employed, but clean water is the only added ingredient.

SWP works through diffusion, not osmosis. Initially, green coffee beans are soaked in water until all the caffeine and flavor compounds are extracted. The beans are then discarded, and the solution they created is run through a carbon filter that removes the caffeine, leaving behind only the flavor compounds—what SWP calls its green coffee extract, or GCE.

When SWP decaffeinates a coffee, the beans are soaked with a small amount of the GCE, which creates a saturated solution in which the caffeine leaves but the flavor compounds remain in place, unaffected. The GCE is like a yeast “mother.” While initially SWP had to sacrifice some coffee to create it, once the first batch was made, it just needs to maintain the health of the GCE and keep it slowly regenerating, which it does by adding small amounts of clean water.