Our Process
Where it's from
Our beans are a bit like us – they come from all over. We carefully source our coffee from a variety of regions across the globe, with each contributing its own unique touch to the final blend.
Brazil
Our Brazilian partner is a farm that specializes in sustainable coffee production. Taking advantage of the country’s climate, which is ideal for growing top-shelf coffee, their farm is UTZ certified and has received the Rainforest Alliance seal for its sustainable production practices. And as if that wasn’t enough, their operation supports housing provision for 23 families. That’s what we call a win-win-win.
Honduras
Meanwhile, in Central America, our Honduran partners employ a circular farming process to produce their coffee, fertilising their soil with discarded coffee pulp (that’s the stuff around the bean). Once harvested, the beans undergo a 36-hour fermentation process followed by a seven-day drying period to really perfect their flavour.
India
In India, we work closely with an organic farm that focuses on sustainable practices. The beans grown here mature and ripen slowly under a wide variety of shade trees, accumulating more taste and nutrients in the process, resulting in a more smooth, full-bodied cup. Because good coffee takes time.
Mexico
Mexico has long been renowned for its ideal coffee-growing climate. What you probably didn’t know is that the beans grown there are long and wide, which helps them to retain their taste characteristics even during decaffeination. Perfect for a company Nolo? We’re glad you agree.
How it’s blended
It takes careful consideration to make decaf and low caf coffee that still tastes great – maybe that’s why so many other companies struggle at it. Fortunately, we took a little more time when creating our Nolo blends.
For our decaf, we use a mix of 84% Arabica beans from South and Central America, and 16% Robusta beans from India. This blend is unique for its chocolate overtones and zesty, fruity flavour, which is ideal for a daily decaf blend.
For our low caf blend, we combine five different beans, mostly Arabica, to create a rich, complex coffee with a full-bodied flavour. And by using a 80/20 ratio of decaf to regular coffee beans, we’ve perfected a balanced caffeine boost without sending your nervous system into a tailspin.
How it’s processed
Decaf gets a pretty bad rap in the coffee community. And fair enough, because most decaf is processed with all kinds of chemicals that remove the caffeine and suck out most of flavour along with.
At Nolo, we do things a little differently. We decaffeinate our beans, grinds and capsules using water. That’s it.
First, we soak the green coffee beans in hot water, drawing out most of the caffeine, as well as some of the other flavour nutrients (after all, water’s not fussy).
Then, we pass this water through a filter that removes the caffeine but leaves everything else in tact.
After that, we resoak the beans in this caffeine-free water, removing any remaining caffeine while transferring the flavour back into the beans.
And finally, they’re dried and prepped for the final roast – full of flavour, with a fraction of the caffeine.