El Placer Red Fruits Co-Fermented Decaf
 
Our decaf pick for 2026 comes from the El Placer Coffee Project, produced by Sebastian Ramirez in Colombia. This is the fourth coffee we have featured from Sebastian at the studio, and it speaks to how much we enjoy and value his work. At El Placer, decaf is treated with the same care as their most celebrated lots, and it truly shows. In early 2024, a European customer entered this coffee into a local competition where it won Best Decaf of the Year.  Proof that decaf does not have to be an afterthought.
 
In the cup, this coffee is bright and expressive. It opens with floral and fruit-forward notes led by strawberry, followed by blackberry, red currant, and grapes, with a gentle wine-like sweetness. As it cools, soft notes of milk chocolate and sugar cane bring warmth and smoothness, making it an easy, balanced, and surprisingly lively decaf.
 
The flavour comes from a careful, step-by-step process. Ripe cherries are fermented for 120 hours under anaerobic conditions at 18 °C, then pulped and fermented again for 72 hours with red wine yeast, dehydrated strawberries, and red fruit glucose, while pH is closely monitored throughout. After fermentation, the coffee is decaffeinated using the Sugar Cane (EA Ethyl Acetate) method, which removes caffeine while preserving flavour and structure.