On the road between Manizales and Honda sits the small town of Monte Bonito that border the slopes of the Cerro Bravo and has a population of less than a thousand inhabitants. The town still holds onto the traditions of the campesinos and allows a view into the history of life as farmers in the high Andes of Colombia. The town has a tumultuous history being heavily affected by the civil war and three times was taken over by the FARC in its past.

Most of the coffee growers from this region, are very small with only between 1 – 3 hectares with 89 associates in this group. They are responsible for full management of the farm and will pick the coffee themselves only asking for help from their neighbours when needed.

During the harvest the coffee is picked, depulped and left to ferment for between 16 to 18 hours. Next day the coffee is then washed and is ready for drying. Some of them have ´´Eldas¨ (on the roof of the house), some others ¨carros quindianos´´ (drying beds with a rail system ) the rest have a parabolic tents for drying the coffee for between 10 -14 days depending on the climate.

After this the coffee will then be delivered to the Manizales Cooperative collection point in the town. Here it is assessed and separated according to quality where the producers receive extra payment for good quality. There is also an extra premium for producers who deliver the coffee to the Cooperartive below 11% moisture. From the collection point the coffee then travels to the cooperative warehouse in Manizales where it is stored.

SPARKLING WATER DECAFFEINATION

This process was first discovered by a scientist called Kurt Zosel at the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research in 1967 as he was looking at new ways of separating mixtures of substances. In 1988, a German decaffeination company called CR3 developed this process for decaffeination whereby natural carbon dioxide (which comes from prehistoric underground lakes) is combined with water to create ‘sub-critical’ conditions which creates a highly solvent substance for caffeine in coffee. It is a gentle, natural and organically certified process and the good caffeine selectivity of the carbon dioxide guarantees a high retention level of other coffee components which contribute to taste and aroma.

The process is outlined below:

1. The green beans enter a ‘pre-treatment’ vessel where they are cleaned and moistened with water before being brought into contact with pressurised liquid carbon dioxide. When the green coffee beans absorb the water, they expand and the pores are opened resulting in the caffeine molecules becoming mobile.

2. After the water has been added, the beans are then brought into contact with the pressurised liquid carbon dioxide which combines with the water to essentially form sparkling water. The carbon dioxide circulates through the beans and acts like a magnet, drawing out the mobile caffeine molecules.

3. The sparkling water then enters an evaporator which precipitates the caffeine rich carbon dioxide out of the water. The now caffeine free water is pumped back into the vessel for a new cycle.

4. This cycle is repeated until the required residual caffeine level is reached. Once this has happened, the circulation of carbon dioxide is stopped and the green beans are discharged into a drier.

5. The decaffeinated coffee is then gently dried until it reaches its original moisture content, after which it is ready for roasting.