COLOMBIA ASOMUJER DECAF - ESPRESSO

ASOMUJER (Asociación de Campesinas del Sur del Huila) is an association of women producers located in the Timaná municipality in the south of the Huila department. The group was founded in 2007 by 10 women who were looking for new or alternative ways of doing business and to earn more for their products and hard work. Today, ASOMUJER is made up of 75 women producers, including activists, single mothers, and those displaced by conflict in areas of Colombia.

They constantly strive to produce and market high-quality coffee, providing technical support to all our partners throughout the entire coffee production, processing, and sales process. It is their goal to be a competitive, and leading organization in the production and marketing of high-quality coffees in the region. ASOMUJER is working to significantly contribute to better economic returns and improve the quality of life of coffee growers, based on principles of economic, environmental, and solidarity sustainability. They support their members, collaborators, and society at large through training, capacity building, and technical support, thus ensuring fair economic, social, and environmental compensation for the region.

Ethyl acetate is an occurring ester (present in bananas and also as a by-product of fermented sugars) that is used as a solvent to bond with and remove caffeine from green coffee. First, the coffee is sorted and steamed for 30 minutes under low pressure in order to open the coffee seeds’ pores and prepare them for decaffeination. The coffee is placed in a solution of both water and ethyl acetate, where the E.A. will begin to bond with the salts of chlorogenic acids inside the seeds. The tank will be drained and re-filled over the course of eight hours until caffeine is no longer detected. The seeds are steamed once more to remove the ethyl acetate traces, though E.A. is only harmful to humans in very high quantities (400 parts per million or more). The coffee is then dried and polished for export.