This dark decaf blend is bold yet balanced, with creamy malted chocolate and a bittersweet finish. At Equal Exchange, our longstanding relationships with coffee co-ops allow us to source the best beans from each harvest. Then we carefully bring out the finest characteristics in these amazing coffee beans with each batch we roast.
The founders of Equal Exchange formed their organization around four tenets that fit quite nicely with Azure's core values: They wanted to create a social change organization that would help farmers and their families gain more control over their economic futures. They wanted to educate American consumers about the issues affecting farmers around the world. They wanted to provide higher-quality foods that would nourish the body and soul, and finally, create a company that would be controlled by the people who did the actual work.
Their first product was coffee from a co-op of small farms in Nicaragua. That partnership has survived war, embargo, government intervention, revolution, counter-revolution and epic hurricanes. By 1991 Equal Exchange established itself as a Fair Trade specialty coffee company, offering food co-op customers a full line of beans, roasts and decaf coffee.
- Organic
- Fair Traded
- Kosher
- Coffee Brewing Tips by Equal Exchange
- Country of Origin(s): Mexico, and Nicaragua
- Aroma: dark chocolate, toasted almond
- Flavor: balanced, chocolate, malt
- Mouthfeel: round & creamy
Decaf coffee gets a bad rap sometimes. That could be because many companies use lower quality coffee beans for their decaf. At Equal Exchange, we believe decaf coffee can be - and should be - just as flavorful as regular coffee. Otherwise, what's the point?
Once we've got the best coffee beans, there are many ways to remove the caffeine. Equal Exchange coffee is primarily decaffeinated using two processes: CR3 Natural Liquid Carbon Dioxide Decaffeination and Mountain Water Process. Both are natural forms of decaffeination that preserve the quality of the coffee beans, which is why the flavors aren't affected.
CR3 Natural Liquid Carbon Dioxide Decaffeination:
1. Unroasted (green) coffee beans are moistened with water and pressurized in a chamber with liquid carbon dioxide, which draws the caffeine out of the bean.
2. The CO2 is circulated through an evaporator to separate the caffeine from the CO2.
3. The CO2 is then recondensed and recirculated through the coffee. This cycle repeats until the decaffeination is complete.
4. The coffee is dried to return it to its original moisture content.
The use of carbon dioxide and water is a natural process that poses no risk to your health (think of carbonated water - it contains the same natural liquid carbon dioxide).
Mountain Water Process:
1. Green coffee beans are immersed in water to extract the caffeine. The water contains the soluble components of the coffee beans, which holds the elements of the flavor, so that the beans maintain their original components.
2. To separate the caffeine from the water containing the soluble components, the water passes through a special filter, which removes the caffeine. This results in coffee solid soluble-charged water saturated with the flavor components but free of caffeine, which is used again in the extraction process.
And there you have it. From the careful cultivation by our farmer partners, to the natural decaffeination processes that preserve the flavors of the green beans, to skilled roasting by our production team, each step is artfully executed to bring you the finest decafs - ahem - the finest coffees available
- Certified organic? Yes
- Country of origin: Mexico
- Package code: CS161
- Shipping weight: 4.125 lb
- Size: 6 x 10 oz
- Storage climate: dry
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