Last year, after searching for a more stable supply stream for our Nightcap, we were offered a sample from a family-owned farm named Laguna del Carmen in Tapachula, Chiapas, in Mexico. We had tasted several samples from Mexico which were in line with our quality goals for this product, and we wanted to work with Descamex specifically. Descamex utilizes a water process for decaffeination (more on that below), and also was founded specifically to increase market value and market access for producers in Latin America. Before opening, there were only select plants around the world, most notably in Canada, Europe, Brazil, and Vietnam.

Laguna del Carmen is a Rainforest Alliance certified farm that is owned and managed by the Muguira family. They rely on strong agroforestry principles, and what is unique about their operations is that they grow shade trees such as cedar, teak, and mahogany in order to have a diversified income by selling the wood from those trees as well as their coffee harvest. They see this as a balanced system, far from being harmful. They believe the plants bring greater environmental stability, and they have relied on the Rainforest Alliance principles to establish a sustainable forest management plan, which includes thinning and felling plants alongside renovation and new planting, guaranteeing the regeneration of harvest cycles without the impact of deforestation. The family registers their farms with the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, a governmental branch that approves their management plans and issues permits even for the transportation of the lumber to market.

The coffee they cultivate on their farm is a mix of varieties such as Sarchimor, Marsellesa, and H16, all hybrid varieties that show greater resistance to climate change and disease. They wet process, or wash, all of their coffees, and dry mill on the farm before sending to Descamex in the form of green coffee for further processing.

After purchase, the coffee is sent to the Descamex Mountain Water Processing facility in Veracruz, Mexico to undergo the clean, chemical-free decaffeination process: the method we consider the best at maintaining a coffee’s quality and flavor—without the caffeine. Descamex was the first decaffeination plant in Latin America, and has pioneered the water process for decaffeination in coffee-producing countries. In addition to the water process, the shortened supply stream helps maintain the quality of the coffee.

The process to remove caffeine looks like this: first the green coffee is submerged in a caffeine-free water solution saturated with solid soluble from coffee beans in order to capture the caffeine through diffusion. Diffusion is the process of the flow of matter from a region of high concentration to a region of low concentration. This also ensures that the flavor and aromatic compounds stay preserved inside the coffee bean. To make the caffeine removal more efficient, water pressure, temperature, and flow are controlled very carefully. Then to remove the caffeine content from the water, the water is passed through a special filter. The process removes 99.9% of the caffeine that was originally present in the coffee. After the caffeine has been fully removed, the coffee beans are dried, bagged in Grainpro liners and jute, and ready to be exported to the port of New Jersey for us!