Decaf

With a big hit of walnut up front, this classic Brazilian coffee is rounded and easy drinking. Cocoa nibs and a hint of hazelnut come through on the finish.

Here at Ozone, we’re always on the lookout for tasty decaf. It can be a little tricky to get hold of, but we aim to have at least one decaf available at all times, and which coffee that is will change throughout the year. If you subscribe to Decaf, you’ll always receive our current fresh decaf, so the farm in your bag will evolve as new coffees come in.

We were one of the first roasters in the UK to move to Colombian decaf, when the ethyl acetate (EA) plant in Colombia started turning out genuinely great coffee. For most of the last ten years our decaf range has been exclusively Colombian, because in blind tastings the EA decafs simply proved more delicious than the CO₂ or Swiss Water options available. The catch? Colombia is a producing country, so decaffeinating anything other than Colombian coffee there was super tricky, and we had to work within those limits.

Ask us for an all-rounder – good any time of day, crowd-pleasing, easy to work with – and nine times out of ten we’ll point you towards Brazil. Bonus points if you remember this one: we once ran a CO₂ decaf of Cachoeira da Grama, and it was really good. We’ve been looking for a way to bring Brazil back into our decaf line-up ever since.

That chance came when we were introduced to EA decaffeination in Bremen, Germany. Finally, we could try what we’d always wanted: EA decaf on a great Brazilian coffee. We kicked things off with Nova Aliança, one of our most important relationship coffees, and this time round it’s the turn of Fazenda Cruz Alta.

EA decaf uses ethyl acetate, a compound found naturally in fruit like bananas and apples, and in sugarcane, which is where the “sugarcane decaf” name comes from. In Bremen, the green beans are first steamed to open them up, then washed with a solution of water and EA, which bonds with the caffeine and draws it out. More steam removes any remaining EA, and the beans are dried back to their original moisture. What’s left keeps its sweetness, body and origin character. All the flavour, none of the buzz.

Why EA decaf?
Here’s the thing: every decaf method is a balancing act between taking the caffeine out and leaving everything else in. EA is highly selective, so it goes after the caffeine and leaves more of the good stuff behind. In our blind tastings it’s consistently held on to more sweetness and origin character than CO₂ or Swiss Water decafs – which is why it’s been our go-to for the best part of a decade.

From a food miles point of view, the extra step adds very little. The coffee travelled from Brazil straight to Germany, part of it was decaffeinated there, and then it all came on to us in the UK together.

Fazenda Cruz Alta sits in Luminárias, in the South of Minas region of Minas Gerais. It’s run by Mauricio Antunes Pereira, with 261 of its 435 hectares under coffee and around 7,000 bags produced each year.

The farm is part of the Solida Cafés group, which has built its name on quality and sustainability. That goes beyond what’s in the cup. The group has worked on improving working conditions and quality of life for its team, and backs professional training and community projects in the region.

The trees grow in red latosol soil and include Red Catuaí, Yellow Catucaí and Acaiá 19. Harvest runs from May to September, with cherries picked by machine, then dried as naturals on sun patios and in mechanical dryers. Cruz Alta holds both 4C and Rainforest Alliance certification.

• Country: Brazil
• Region: South of Minas, Minas Gerais
• Farm: Fazenda Cruz Alta
• Producers: Mauricio Antunes Pereira
• Varieties grown: Red Catuaí, Yellow Catucaí, Acaiá 19
• Process: Natural
• Decaffeination: Sugarcane (EA) decaffeination

Tasting notes: Walnut, cocoa nib, hazelnut.

Cup of Excellence Cupping Scores

• Clean cup: 6/8
  
• Sweetness: 6/8
• Acidity: 6/8
• Mouthfeel: 6/8
• Flavour: 6/8
• Aftertaste: 6/8
• Balance: 6.5/8
• Overall: 6/8
• Correction: (+36): +36
• Total: 84.5/100

Medium: through the gap and let this develop a little in the gap, but don´t let the appearance catch you out, this needs pushing up to the edge of second crack to get the best from it.

A Note on Decaf Visual Roast Colour From Our Roasting Team
The decaffeination process, including Ethyl Acetate (EA), alters the physical structure of green coffee beans. EA decaf beans tend to:

• Lose some natural moisture
• Become more porous and fragile
• Develop a darker hue even before roasting

Because of these changes, decaf beans absorb heat differently during roasting. They often darken more quickly, and their colour progression can be misleading - turning brown or even dark brown well before reaching first crack. This means a medium roast decaf can visually resemble a dark roast regular coffee, even though the internal development is quite different.

Additionally, EA-decaffeinated beans may develop a shiny surface at lighter roast levels due to changes in oil migration and surface texture. While shinier, oilier beans are often associated with darker roasts in regular caffeinated coffee, in this case, it's a result of the decaffeination process, not necessarily the roast level.