Sea Slug Decaf - Roatating Seasonal Decaf

About the Producers

Finca Lomas Altas produces some of the best coffees we’ve had from the New Oriente region. Because water can be scarce in Jalapa, the coffee is delivered to us as cherry the same day that it is picked.

These lots are remarkably uniform, a sign of careful picking! Our team processes them in Fraijanes and prepares them for export. The family also works with the Del Paraiso producer organization in Jalapa, which works to strengthen the local community by finding specialty partners such as Primavera and helping producers access those buyers!

When Raul passed away unexpectedly due to Covid in 2021, his wife Maria Elena took the reins of the farm. The cooperative’s new leader has helped with farm management, too, in order to keep the farm thriving and producing great coffees.

Processing

Our Lomas Altas coffee has a lovely profile for decaf, and we’ve chosen the Swiss Water Decaffeination method for this year’s lot, which is done at Swiss Water’s plant in Vancouver, BC. Swiss Water is a process by which the coffee is cleansed of its caffeine using pure water, for a cup that preserves the quality of the coffee. The Swiss Water method involves adding water to the green coffee, followed by the introduction of a green coffee extract. The extract does not contain caffeine, and by adding it to the coffee, the caffeine moves to the extract in order to maintain equilibrium. The coffee can then be dried and bagged, and is now 99.9% caffeine-free.

Price

This coffee was purchased through Primavera Coffee, a single origin importer from Guatemala.

The FOB price for this lot was $2.47. [FOB price is the total price of the coffee up to the point of departure from the country; it includes farmgate/price paid to the grower, in-country transportation, and the cost of processing and preparation for export. It does not include the price of freight to the US, US warehousing, US customs charges, or the cost of moving coffee with the US.] 

During the harvest season in February 2022, the New York C price for coffee was an average of $2.32; the $2.47 FOB price for this coffee includes a significant premium for the farmer above the C market price, which reflects the excellent quality of this coffee and the growing acclaim of the Sugarcane Process. After being imported to the consuming country, the United States, the coffee was moved from a warehouse to our roastery in Berkeley. The coffee cost was $5.50 ex-warehouse, and after shipping to the roastery our final green price was $5.50 per pound.

Avg. C Price (at the time of harvest): $2.32

F.O.B Price: $2.47

Ex-Warehouse: $5.50

Final Green Price: $5.50

Read more about terminology, definitions and Whiptail’s Transparency mission here.