Spotlight on: San Antonio Decaf
Late last year, we were thrilled to introduce our first ever decaffeinated lot, San Antonio Decaf: a line that perfectly exemplifies just how far our industry has come since the early days of specialty coffee in Australia.
Published 6 May 2025
When previously considering adding a decaf line to our offer list, we always maintained that it needed to be a coffee that excelled in quality and versatility, regardless of caffeine content, sourced through strong relationships and responsible practices. It had to meet our strict quality expectations, have great longevity and consistency, and be as straightforward to roast as the rest of our line up. Most importantly, it had to taste great.
With demand for low-caf or decaf options steadily growing, we turned to our long-time Colombian supply partners Pergamino to explore the possibilities of delivering something delicious to our customers. This made sense on a number of fronts. Colombia is one of the few coffee-producing countries to have its own decaffeination plant, meaning the process can be done quickly and efficiently in the origin where it was harvested. Furthermore, the country’s almost year-round harvest cycle enables us to procure coffee at multiple points within a calendar year, ensuring we can offer consistent and ongoing availability.
We’re fortunate to be connected to a wide network of independent smallholder coffee growers across Colombia through Pergamino’s Allied Producer Program. In choosing the lot to decaffeinate, it made sense to source from a community with a proven track record for sweet and clean coffees, and strong ties to the team. Grown in the hills surrounding the small town of San Antonio, Cauca, the lot we chose is the result of Pergamino’s strong partnership with local community leaders the Pillimué family.
The influential family — who have farmed coffee in the region for three generations — offer their understanding of San Antonio’s local culture and unique terrain, playing a vital role in Pergamino’s access to high quality lots from this community. Today, the Pillimués manage Pergamino’s local warehouse and quality control lab in Inzá, where they collect and assess coffees from other smallholder producers (head here to learn more about their work in San Antonio).
Our coffee is decaffeinated by Descafecol in the state of Manizales using the ethyl acetate (EA) method. Derived from fermented sugarcane, this naturally occurring compound gently removes the caffeine from the bean, while maintaining the sugars and cellular structure of the coffee. We were extremely impressed with Descafecol’s plant while touring the site in November 2024, when we were introduced to the team and saw first-hand the careful handling and quality control of their practices (you can listen Fleur talk about her visit to Descafecol here, via our podcast The Green Delivery). Along with processing the coffee locally and using an efficient method that minimally impacts physical quality, we have chosen to package this special offering in vacuum-packed cartons: measures that we expect to contribute to its overall quality, consistency and longevity.
When cupping San Antonio Decaf next to its fully caffeinated counterpart, we have been blown away by their similarity — not just in profile, but also in texture and intensity of flavour. The decaf lot is clean and well-structured, with a distinct buttery mouthfeel and notes of stewed apple, fresh cream and sweet almond. With such a versatile flavour profile, this coffee performs excellently as a manual pour over, batch or espresso offering.
Our forthcoming shipment of San Antonio Decaf is due to land in June, with more expected at the end of the year, or early 2026. Reach out to our team for samples, or to plan your allocations to ensure you’re well-stocked for the winter months.
