Happy Capybara decaf is a regional blend from Minas Gerais. Minas Gerais is the 4th largest state in Brazil, but when it comes to Arabica cultivation, the region is the most important in the country. It produces about 74% of Brazil’s total coffee volume. 

Our importer works closely with hundreds of farmers throughout Minas Gerais, each sending samples to the lab in Patrocinio, where they employ five quality analysts who are responsible for selecting, evaluating and carefully curating regional blends, in this case our Happy Capybara regional decaf. 

Once purchased the coffee makes its way to the warehouse in Varginha where the coffee is sorted by screen size, screened for defects and eventually prepared for export. In Bremen the coffee goes under the Water - Ethyl-Acetate process commonly referred to as the “Sugarcane” or “E.A” process, where a naturally occurring substance (Ethyl-Acetate) commonly sourced from sugarcane is extracted and used as a solvent to bind to caffeine.

The process starts by soaking the green coffee in water and then steaming it for about 30 minutes to open the pores and expand the coffee cells. This makes the caffeine extraction possible. Then the green beans are soaked and washed in ethyl acetate solution, which attracts and removes the caffeine. Once the coffee is saturated, the tank is emptied and a fresh solution is poured in, which is done for another eight hours. Then the coffee undergoes steaming, which removes the EA. After drying, cooling and polishing the beans, a final quality control determines whether the coffee is ready for roasting.

Fabio, who works in our importer's Brazil office created the Happy Capybara logo: 

“In all my works I put a little bit of myself...for me happiness has to do with the simple things in our lives, like a cup of coffee in the morning on a rainy day, and of course, good music...Those little pleasures of life, you know? The capybara’s face is very happy, exactly the expression we make when we realize that these little moments make our lives so happy.”