Etiopien Guji Hambela Decaf

This decaffeinated and organic—coffee comes from the Guji region in southern Ethiopia, more specifically from the village of Dimtu Tora. Here, the Hambela Wamena washing station was established in 2022, surrounded by lush forest, small-scale farming, and coffee trees whose red berries ripen in the shade of native trees. The location makes the area a natural hub for some of southern Ethiopia’s most prominent coffee-producing regions.

The coffee naturally dried and has subsequently been decaffeinated using ethyl acetate (EA)—a natural method that preserves as much as possible of the coffee’s original flavor profile. The result is a mild and pleasantly balanced coffee with notes of milk chocolate, citrus, and nuts.

THE DECAF METHOD

This coffee was decaffeinated using the Ethyl Acetate (EA) decaffeination process. Ethyl acetate is produced by esterification between ethyl alcohol, which is derived from the fermentation of sugar cane, and acetic acid. The green coffee is submerged in a wash of water and ethyl acetate, during which the ethyl acetate bonds with the caffeine in the coffee and begins to extract it from the green seeds. The EA solution is flushed and the process is repeated until reaching a minimum decaffeination level of 97%. Finally, the green coffee is steamed to remove any remaining ethyl acetate from the seeds.

Through this natural method, the good taste of the coffee is retained, which is one of the reasons why we believe that this method is the method of the future for producing decaffeinated coffee.