Decaf Red Plum – Colombia

THE BEANS

BREW GUIDE

Le Red Plum is built for filter brewing. Pour-over, V60, Chemex, AeroPress, batch brew: all of them let the plum and red berries come through clearly, with a beautiful clean acidity, and milk chocolate sitting subtle in the background for balance. Before roasting, the beans go through a double anaerobic fermentation using the Bermúdez family’s custom Paraíso Red Fruit culture, then a thermal shock wash (hot and cold water to lock in the aromatics), and are naturally decaffeinated using the Sugar Cane EA process (ethyl acetate from sugar cane dissolves the caffeine while keeping the sweetness intact). If you have never had decaf coffee beans that made you forget it was decaf, start here.

ROAST APPROACH

Light-medium roast, with precision. This Castillo Colombian coffee comes from a Red Plum lot at Finca El Paraíso, one of the most respected farms in specialty coffee. The Bermúdez family built the plum and berry character into the bean through their fermentation and thermal shock process before it ever reaches us. With all that complexity already there, the roast stays gentle. Just enough development to open up the fruit while the chocolate stays subtle in the background, bringing balance to the cup. Roasting darker would erase exactly what they spent weeks building into this coffee.

SCA SCORE

Scored 89 out of 100 by SCA-certified Q-graders (trained professionals who evaluate coffee on aroma, flavor, aftertaste, acidity, body, balance, uniformity, sweetness, and overall impression). 89 is exceptionally high for a decaf. Most decaffeinated coffees lose flavor in the process. This one didn’t. You would not know it’s caffeine-free from the cup alone, and that’s the point.