Los Nogales “Mossto” Mucilage EA Decaf

Mucilage EA decaf – sometimes called mossto decaf – is one of the rarest decaffeination approaches in the world. Instead of using standard ethyl acetate derived from sugarcane, this method uses a natural solvent created from the coffee’s own fermented mucilage. In practice, the flavour chemistry of the decaf is built from the coffee itself rather than an external input, preserving aromatics, organic acids and sweetness to a level almost never found in decaf.

This Los Nogales competition decaf sits at the very top of the farm’s decaf range: a Caturra lot designed to perform like a championship coffee that just happens to be decaffeinated. For us, this is, without question, the best decaf we’ve ever tried.

Fully ripe cherries are hand-picked and floated in water to remove any underripe or defective fruit. They are then fermented whole for 24 hours, thoroughly washed, sun-dried on raised beds and hulled, with only Excelso-grade beans selected for decaffeination. From there, the coffee is immersed twice in water at 40°C (using a 2:1 water-to-coffee ratio) to gently open the cell structure. A natural solvent – a must derived from coffee pulp and husk, rich in compounds from the fermented mucilage – is then added and left in contact with the beans for 24 hours, selectively extracting caffeine while preserving aromatics and organic acids. After a final wash, the coffee is dried for around five days to stabilise moisture and sweetness.