Atunkaa, Sugar Cane Decaf, Colombia | Sugar Cane Decaf FSC-9190

Atunkaa is a naturally processed sugarcane decaf sourced by Siruma, whose name comes from the Wayuunaiki language of the Wayuu indigenous people of northern Colombia and means heaven and skies; Atunkaa comes from the same language and means sleep and sleepy dreams. Siruma began nine years ago with the aim of working alongside underserved and developing farming communities, concentrating its efforts in Cauca, Caldas, and Tolima and partnering with many indigenous communities. Much of the off-the-rack sugarcane decaf coming out of Colombia is bought already decaffeinated by importers, with no farmer or price traceability and little transparency about where the margin on a four- to five-dollar coffee is actually made.

Atunkaa takes the opposite approach. By tolling the decaffeination through Descafecol, Siruma and Falcon pay a sustainable price to the associations and farmers, the decaffeinator earns a margin for the tolling service, and Siruma and Falcon each take a margin, with the association and farmer retaining the largest share of the final price. Because the coffee is drawn from the same supply chains as Siruma's non-decaf lots, the arrangement pushes additional volume and revenue back to these partners, and the results are fully traceable community lots — down to the contributing farmers and farm-gate pricing — that score 85–86 SCA, pay more to growers, and remain easy to market.

 The coffee is sourced from Piendamó, Cauca, from a small association known as ACC, the Central Cauca Association for peace. Its founder saw that he could add value to conventional Castillo coffee by building a centralised wet mill, wanting to show his neighbours they could make a decent living from coffee and stay away from the illicit crops long common in Piendamó. To do so he crafted and welded a few very basic machines, allowing the association to process naturals and honeys safely through a standardised process.