Due to some developments over the past year we have come to the decision at Royal NY to expand our horizons in the decaf world.  We will now have Swiss Water Decaf prepare some of our Royal Select decafs.

Why Swiss Water Decaf?

Here are some of the reasons we have decided it is a good idea to begin offering these coffees.

Quality

When we decided to explore the possibility of carrying Swiss Water, we of course tasted many different samples.  We wanted to make sure we would still be able to offer the quality that our Royal Select customers are used to and have come to expect.  To our surprise, we found we liked what we saw much better than what we remember from Swiss Water.  We were a little bit surprised and definitely pleased with the quality we found was available.

Demand

FTO Timor, decaffeinated.  This is a coffee many of you have grown to appreciate and rely on over the years. To be frank, the logistics involved have always made this a difficult coffee to decaffeinate.  Mostly because the government of Timor-Leste does not generally provide the correct documentation that the government of Mexico needs to import their coffee.  It is possible to get this documentation and we’ve done it in years past.  Unfortunately, since we had a very short time frame to get all the moving parts coordinated, and it wasn’t possible this season. Luckily the government of Canada does not have the same restrictions as Mexico, and it was much simpler to get the job done with Swiss Water for this coffee.

Existing Partnerships

We work with many different roasters with different preferences.  Some roasters have an existing relationship with Swiss Water Decaf, with stickers on the bag and the whole shebang.  As we grow as a company, we want to continue to give our roasters more variety, and to make decaf purchases easy and consistent, and we cannot if we don’t carry it!

Supply

Keeping the warehouse stocked with high-quality decaf is not exactly easy. Instead of the normal 30 to 45 day shipping time, it is more like a 60 to 90 day turnaround time to go from green coffee at origin to decaf in the warehouse.  Because there are more stages in shipping, there is more opportunity for delay. It is to our benefit to have a second supplier as a safety net so we can better get you the coffee you need when you need it.

So what does this mean for me?

I am sure you have questions.  I know from experience that it can be a little stressful even contemplating the notion of changing the coffee you use for a staple offering.  Yes, Swiss Water Decaf roasts differently, but as these coffees arrive, we will be doing different analyses in The Lab.  We will be posting our roast profiles from the Loring, sample roasting tips from the Ikawa, and any advice we can provide so you can not only maintain the quality of your offering, but also educate any interested customers on the differences and similarities to the coffee they were getting before.

Also, even though these coffees are Swiss Water Decaf, they are still Royal Select. We’re still using the same coffees we buy from origin for our caffeinated offerings.  These are still subject to our existing procedures of quality control as the offerings being decaffeinated by the Mountain Water process in Mexico by our long-standing partner Descamex.

I hope this puts your minds at ease.  Hopefully it even gets you excited for a new thing to try!  I had opportunities to speak with representatives from Swiss Water and Descamex.

Please take a look, hopefully you will find the information interesting and useful: (Swiss Water Process) & (Descamex Mountain Water Process).