BRAZIL SUMMER SOLSTICE SWISS WATER DECAF COFFEE

This Small Batch Series from Swiss Water is also one of our regular coffees from our friends at Daterra. The right atmospheric conditions on the farm mean that Summer Solstice can be made purely from dried-on-tree cherries. This rare process allows for a bright, clean complex flavour, which coupled with Daterra’s exclusive technology for sorting produces a world class coffee, scoring higher than most, non-decaffeinated coffees! The cherries are sorted through Unipac – Daterra’s specially adapted micro mill, which exists for the experimental and Masterpiece lots – before being sent to Canada for decaffeination. Daterra is a carbon neutral farm and the first ever B-Corp certified coffee farm, a system that measures a company’s entire social and environmental impact. Daterra itself is made up of three farms, Boa Vista, Taboues and Franca. Each lot is differentiated – soil, aspect, varietal, hours of sun all differ slightly over the farms. The farm grows the following varietals IAC, Bourbon, Icatu, Laurina, Arara and Parasiso.  Chocolate, lemon, almond, apple, grape, strawberry, tropical fruit, honey sweetness and full body are amongst the tasting notes from SCAA independent graders, who scored this a huge 83.75.

The Swiss Water process is an organic, 100% chemical-free option for decaffeination. This method does not require the addition of chemicals, instead relying on a super saturated green coffee solution called Green Coffee Extract (GCE). This is introduced to a batch of green coffee. As the GCE is already saturated with all the water-soluble compounds found in green coffee, minus the caffeine, the matching molecules won’t diffuse out of the coffee beans—but the caffeine will. The flavour is retained in the beans while the caffeine is removed. Thanks to some scientific smarts and creativity, it’s possible to have decaf coffee that tastes the same – just without the caffeine!

We've been roasting the world's best coffee in our 2kg San Franciscan roaster since 1994, resisting the temptation and logic of roasting on a more commercial scale, to stand by the philosophy that we can bring out the best in any coffee working this way. To give some context, each batch produces just enough for 8 supermarket size packets. Often, one roast is taken entirely by one customer! 

The best tip we can offer to enhance your enjoyment of any coffee you try is to suggest that you grind your own beans freshly as required.