Farm: Atunkaa - SICEET

Owner: Small holder families

Location: Toribio, Cauca, Colombia

Altitude: 1600-1900masl

Varietal: Castillo & Colombia

Process: Decaf - sugar cane

Roast: Omni

Tasting Notes: Fruity, caramel and vanilla

We sourced this coffee through Falcon Coffee who had the following to share:

"Atunkaa" in the Wayuu dialect describes the state of sleeping or dreaming.

These sugarcane decaf lots are produced by our community of farmers from the regions of Cauca, Caldas & Tolima. They are processed with care to preserve the natural sweetness and complexity of their varieties.

About SICCET:

This coffee comes from SICEET – the Asociación Indígena de Caficultores Especiales, Ecológicos de Toribio. This indigenous Nasa association is made up of smallholder families in Toribio, Cauca, Colombia, whose ancestral lands extend across Toribio, Tacueyó, and San Francisco.

The farms sit at 1,700–1,900 metres above sea level, on volcanic soils nurtured by cool mountain air currents from the Cordillera Central. These conditions, combined with sustainable agroforestry practices, help cultivate coffees with caramel and citrus aromas and a soft, sweet flavour profile.

SICEET farmers grow specialty coffee in multiple forms – pergamino seco (dry parchment), roasted, and ground – following meticulous quality standards from seed to cup. Their varieties include Borbón Rosado, Colombia, and Castillo, with coffees classified into:

Especial: premium lots with higher cupping scores and complex flavour profiles.

Traditional / Conventional: traditional offerings with sweet, balanced notes.

Cups often reveal aromas of citrus, fruits, nuts, caramel, and panela, with well-rounded body, sweetness, and acidity.

SICEET’s mission is to produce and commercialise high-quality coffees with dignity, in harmony with Madre Tierra, while supporting generational continuity and social well-being. Their vision is to be a leading example of sustainable coffee production, strengthening the social fabric of their communities while sharing their exceptional coffees with the world.

Cane Decaf Process

The coffee first undergoes steaming at low pressures to remove the silver skins before then being moistened with hot water to allow the beans to swell and soften. This then prepares the coffee for the hydrolysis of caffeine, which is attached to the salts of the chlorogenic acid within the coffee.
The extractors (naturally obtained from the fermentation of sugar cane and not from chemical synthesis) are then filled with moistened coffee which is washed several times with the natural ethyl acetate solvent, to reduce the caffeine down to the correct levels. Once this process is finished the coffee then must be cleaned of the remaining ethyl acetate by using a flow of low pressured saturated steam, before moving onto the final steps. From here the coffee is sent to vacuum drying drums where the water previously used to moisten the beans is removed and the coffee dried to between 10-12%.
The coffee is then cooled quickly to ambient temperature using fans before the final step of carnauba wax being applied to polish and provide the coffee with protection against environmental conditions and to help provide stability. From here, the coffee is then packed into 70kg bags ready for export.

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