Source Analysis by Chris Kornman and Mayra Orellana-Powell
In a rarity for Royal and the Crown Jewel product line, this coffee came to us in its already-decaffeinated form. As we sample and select coffees in any given season, serendipitous coffees occasionally frequent the table, and some of our favorite long term relationships have started with cold calls.
For this Guatemala from the Atitlán designated growing region, one of our senior coffee buyers and the VP of Trading Activity Alex Mason noted, “I bought it for old fashioned reasons… it cupped well.” We ended up doing a little detective work, as the original offered sample came to us with minimal traceability, and to our surprise we found out the coffee was grown on a renowned estate: Finca San Jerónimo Miramar.
Fourth-generation farmers Giorgio and Gina Bressani run the farm, a relatively large estate which is situated in Guatemala’s Suchitepéquez department on the literal slopes of Volcán Atitlán, one of Guatemala’s over-30 active volcanoes (Atitlán last erupted in 1853).
San Jerónimo is a multifaceted endeavor, and surprisingly, its most prominent feature is likely its active creamery, where it processes dairy products (notably cheeses) from the herd of cattle and those of neighboring farms. The cows also contribute to a healthy biosphere on the farm: in addition to coffee production, there is also an active lab (the farm produces its own composted fertilizer, for example) and a small village for farm workers including a school. A large portion of the land is native forest, and a river that cuts through the land powers the electricity for the farm itself.
Once the coffee finished harvesting and processing, it was exported for decaffeination. Royal exclusively decaffeinates coffee by two processes: Water and Ethyl Acetate (aka “Sugarcane”) process. This coffee was sent from Guatemala to Veracruz, where it began its next steps at Descamex, whose proprietary decaffeination method is called Mountain Water Process.
During the water process, the green coffee is pre-soaked in water to expand the beans for caffeine extraction. The hydrated green coffee is then introduced to a unique solution of concentrated coffee solubles that draw out the caffeine while minimizing the loss of flavor compounds. Once the caffeine has been removed the green coffee is re-dried and re-bagged for transport, and the extract solution is filtered of its caffeine and recycled to be used again.
