Dark chocolate meets zesty orange zest and fine black tea. An elegant flavor profile that comes without caffeine—but not without character.
We searched for a long time to find an Ethiopian decaf—so we’re all the more excited that it won you over in the first tastings. With notes of dark chocolate, orange zest, and black tea, it delights with its balanced body and gentle, lively acidity.
This coffee comes from the Jimma region, known for its vibrant and expressive coffees. It is produced at the Telila Washing Station, where Mike Mamo focuses on meticulous day lot selections and stores the beans in Ecotact bags to preserve their freshness and clarity.
The decaffeination process uses the gentle Sugar Cane Process at Coffein Compagnie in Germany—ensuring a pure and intense flavor experience.
About Telila Washing Station
Jimma is one of Ethiopia’s traditional coffee-growing regions, located north of the famous Yirgacheffe region. Coffees from Jimma are known for their fuller texture and bright acidity. The Telila Washing Station is situated near Kecho Anderacha in Gera Woreda and is owned by Mike Mamo. Mike is a coffee exporter and also a shareholder of Osito Coffee, the importer of this coffee.
He took over the Telila Washing Station in 2019. Unlike many other washing stations in Ethiopia, he focuses on day lot separations and even stores his parchment coffee in Ecotact bags. These extra steps to maximize quality are clearly reflected in the cup. Despite being in operation for only four years, his station is already producing some of the cleanest and best-prepared lots we have seen from western Ethiopia.
For every pound of coffee sold, Osito Coffee donates $0.10 to the Kacho Tulla Primary School in the village of Kecho Anderacha.
About the process:
Washed
Washed processing is the most common form of coffee processing. It involves separating the pulp from the bean before the beans are fermented in water tanks. This removes the remaining pulp. The beans are then sun-dried. The result is a coffee with clear acidity, complex aromas and elegant lightness.
Sugar Cane Process
The Sugar Cane process uses ethyl acetate (EA), a natural solvent obtained from sugar cane through fermentation - hence the name. EA is naturally present in many fruits and other foods.
First, the green coffee beans are steamed to open their pores.
They are then placed in a solution of water and ethyl acetate, which binds and removes the caffeine without affecting the flavors. This process is repeated several times until 99.9% of the caffeine is removed.
Finally, the beans are steamed again to remove any remaining traces of ethyl acetate and then dried. The amount remaining in the beans is several times less than in a banana.
The Sugar Cane process preserves the original aromas and flavor of the coffee, often gains sweetness, and has no off-flavors from the decaffeination process.
This cofffee was decaffeinated in Germany by Coffein Compagnie.
