Process: Washed
Variety: Bourbon, Typica, Mundo Novo
Elevation: 1000-1800 MASL
Country: Mexico
Harvest: November–March

Our water-processed decafs are done in a facility in Mexico called Descamex. In order to remove the caffeine in this process, green coffee is soaked in a water solution, which removes both the caffeine as well as other solubles in the coffee (flavor compounds, for instance). The water is removed from the seeds and run through a special filter that captures caffeine molecules and allows them to be strained from the solution. The solution—now containing flavor compounds but no caffeine—is then reintroduced to the green coffee seeds, which reabsorb the soluble materials. The coffee is then dried once more, and prepared for reexport.

Historically, Mexican coffee was viewed as an inexpensive, low-grown blender with cup characteristics including nuttiness, chocolate, and generally mild citric acid. Today, though, high-grown Mexican coffee has extremely interesting complex citric and malic acidity, balanced sweetness in the form of chocolate and toffee, and an overall clean cup. We've had Mexican coffees that have absolutely knocked our socks off.