Farm: El Vergel
Producers: Elias & Shady Bayter
Region: Tolima
Elevation: 1450 meters
Cultivar: Red & Yellow Caturra
Process: Washed. EA Sugarcane Decaf
Notes: Almond, Panela, Navel Orange, Clove
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El Vergel is more than a coffee, it’s the result of bold reinvention and relentless innovation. What began as an avocado farm in Tolima transformed in 2006 when the Bayter family set their sights on coffee. Drawing on their agricultural roots that date back to 1995, they planted their first coffee at El Vergel Estate in 2010 and celebrated their first successful harvest by 2015. Since then, El Vergel has become internationally recognized for experimental processing, including their groundbreaking Koji fermentations, and for building a model that puts producers, quality, and transparency first.
In 2017, facing challenges in the local market, Martha, Shady, and Elias pushed further, seeking new ways to add value and close the gap between growers and roasters. That vision became Forest Coffee in 2019, a producer-led project dedicated to innovation in processing, education, and sustainability. Today, Forest Coffee represents a thriving network of 250 coffee-growing families across Colombia, supported by multiple regional projects and a growing global community of roasters and partners.
This lot showcases that spirit of innovation through the EA sugarcane decaffeination process. After carefully managed fermentations designed to enhance sweetness and complexity, the green coffee is decaffeinated using ethyl acetate derived from sugarcane. The coffee is gently washed in water and EA within circular extraction tanks, naturally reducing caffeine to 0.1 percent while preserving flavor integrity. The result is a clean, smooth, and expressive decaf that maintains the character of the original coffee, proving that decaffeinated coffee can still be vibrant, complex, and deeply satisfying.
Farm: El Vergel
Producers: Elias & Shady Bayter
Region: Tolima
Elevation: 1450 meters
Cultivar: Red & Yellow Caturra
Process: Washed. EA Sugarcane Decaf
Notes: Almond, Panela, Navel Orange, Clove
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
El Vergel is more than a coffee, it’s the result of bold reinvention and relentless innovation. What began as an avocado farm in Tolima transformed in 2006 when the Bayter family set their sights on coffee. Drawing on their agricultural roots that date back to 1995, they planted their first coffee at El Vergel Estate in 2010 and celebrated their first successful harvest by 2015. Since then, El Vergel has become internationally recognized for experimental processing, including their groundbreaking Koji fermentations, and for building a model that puts producers, quality, and transparency first.
In 2017, facing challenges in the local market, Martha, Shady, and Elias pushed further, seeking new ways to add value and close the gap between growers and roasters. That vision became Forest Coffee in 2019, a producer-led project dedicated to innovation in processing, education, and sustainability. Today, Forest Coffee represents a thriving network of 250 coffee-growing families across Colombia, supported by multiple regional projects and a growing global community of roasters and partners.
This lot showcases that spirit of innovation through the EA sugarcane decaffeination process. After carefully managed fermentations designed to enhance sweetness and complexity, the green coffee is decaffeinated using ethyl acetate derived from sugarcane. The coffee is gently washed in water and EA within circular extraction tanks, naturally reducing caffeine to 0.1 percent while preserving flavor integrity. The result is a clean, smooth, and expressive decaf that maintains the character of the original coffee, proving that decaffeinated coffee can still be vibrant, complex, and deeply satisfying.