If you've been shopping with us for a while, you may have noticed that we have a soft spot for tasty decaf coffees. Lucky for us, our coffee-quaffing friends at Quaffee are no strangers to sourcing and roasting excellent lots of carefully decaffeinated beans. Since coffee is a seasonal crop, regular offerings, including decafs, rotate according to harvest and supply. While it's always bittersweet to say goodbye to a crowd-pleaser like Quaffee's recent Pink Bourbon decaf, the silver lining of seasonality is the arrival of something fresh! Enter Quaffee's Colombia Atunkaa Decaf.

Sourced through Colombian speciality coffee exporter Siruma, this coffee was gently decaffeinated using the sugarcane, or Ethyl Acetate (EA), process. Appropriately named after the Wayuu phrase for "sleep and sleepy dreams," Atunkaa is Siruma's signature decaf lot, featuring a blend of speciality coffees collected from small and medium-scale farming families within the Antioquia region. Designed to be perfect for afternoon or late-night coffee rituals, the beans were processed using the washed method before being sent to Descafecol, a speciality decaffeination plant in Caldas.

Descafecol's decaffeination process involves combining mountain spring water and Ethyl Acetate (EA), derived from fermented sugarcane, to effectively remove caffeine while leaving the natural sweetness, fruitiness, and body intact. As a result, this coffee retains all the nuanced Colombian character you would expect from a speciality roast — just without the caffeine hit. Although the chapter on Quaffee's previous decaf has closed, we are excited to make room for a new delicious decaf to brew!

Quaffee's notes

"Expect a clean, rounded cup with caramel sweetness, soft citrus acidity and notes of toasted coconut. The body remains smooth and balanced, making it suitable for both filter and espresso brewing."

• Taste profile: Orchard fruit, brown sugar sweetness and a nutty finish
• Body: Medium
• Roast used: "Gentle ramp rate with a slowing after first crack to promote sweetness."
• Roast degree: Light (124) – using my-tonino.com
• Quaffee brews: Espresso 1:2.3 (22 sec) · AeroPress 17.5g:200g (medium-coarse grind) · Plunger 50g:800g · Pour-over 17.5g:300g (coarse grind, 50 sec bloom, 3.5 min total)

Coffee details from Quaffee

"The coffee consists primarily of traditional Colombian Arabica cultivars, including Castillo, Caturra, Bourbon and Tabi. These varieties were selected for their resilience, productivity and cup quality. Farms supplying the lot are generally located between 1,680 and 2,050 metres above sea level."

• Country: Colombia
• Region: Antioquia
• Farm: Siruma
• Producer: Smallholder producer groups and community lots
• Altitude: 1,680 – 2,050m ASL
• Cultivars: Castillo, Caturra, Bourbon, Tabi
• Processing: Washed, sugarcane Ethyl Acetate decaffeination
• Packaging: GrainPro-lined bags

Quaffee's transparency information

• Organisation: Siruma & Descafecol
• Source: And Sons
• FOB price: $12.57
• Cupping score: 84.5 (And Sons)
• Lot size bought: 1 x 70kg bag
• Relationship: "Our relationship with And Sons goes back half a decade."