Mexico Semi - Decaf Fatima Bio

Certified Organic, Finca Fatima Estate

The coffee behind this lot is grown on the Fatima estate in Mexico, at an elevation of 1,260 meters, under organic certification — meaning cultivation follows a recognized standard that prohibits synthetic pesticides and fertilizers and requires the land to meet that standard for a defined period before certification is granted.

The variety is Typica, planted washed rather than natural-processed. Organic cultivation and washed processing are two independent choices that happen to reinforce each other here: without synthetic pest and disease controls, a farm growing organically has to rely more heavily on careful site selection, shade management, and processing discipline to protect cup quality, which is exactly the kind of hands-on approach a smaller specialty farm like this one is built around.

Mexico is one of the world's most significant sources of certified-organic coffee, with a long-standing base of smallholder farms that adopted organic methods well before it became a mainstream market category elsewhere — this lot sits within that broader tradition rather than being a recent conversion.

Caramel, Raisins, Dates

Expect a gentle, dried-fruit-forward cup: caramel sweetness, raisin, and date carrying most of the flavor, with soft acidity and a smooth finish. Nothing about organic certification changes the flavor chemistry directly — it's the farming method behind the beans, not a taste in itself — but the careful growing and processing this variety demands tends to track with the clean, well-balanced profile in the cup.

This is a mellow, comforting coffee rather than a bright or fruity one, well suited to being taken with milk or on its own later in the day, when the half-caf treatment's reduced caffeine load matters more than a jolt of acidity.

Brewing This Organic Half-Caf

Organic certification doesn't change how a coffee behaves in the kettle — brew this one the way you would any mellow, medium-bodied washed coffee.

Pour-Over

Ratio: 1:16. Grind: Medium-fine. Water temperature: 200°F (93°C). Brings out the caramel and date sweetness cleanly.

Drip Machine

Ratio: 1:15–1:16. Grind: Medium. A straightforward, everyday setup that suits this coffee's easygoing character.

Storage and Freshness

Store whole-bean, sealed and away from heat and light, and grind close to brew time. As with any half-caf blend, the two component lots can lose freshness at slightly different rates once ground, so buying a size you'll finish at a steady pace is worth more here than with a single, uniform-roast coffee.

Did You Know

• Organic certification requires land to be pesticide-free for a set transition period before the harvest can be sold as certified organic. It isn't granted the moment a farm stops using synthetic inputs — most organic standards require several years of compliant farming first, which is part of why certified-organic coffee tends to come from farms with a long-term commitment to the method rather than a quick label change.

• Mexico has long been one of the largest sources of certified-organic coffee in the world, thanks in large part to a broad base of smallholder farms in its highland coffee zones that adopted organic practices for economic and ecological reasons well before "organic" became a widely marketed category elsewhere.

• Organic and decaf are two entirely separate certifications, audited independently. A coffee can be organic without being decaf, decaf without being organic, or — as here — both at once; neither certification implies the other, so a coffee carrying both has cleared two separate sets of standards.

• Shade-grown cultivation is common on organic coffee farms, since a shaded canopy naturally suppresses some weeds and pests that would otherwise require chemical intervention — a low-tech substitute for the synthetic inputs organic standards prohibit.

What does "organic" mean on a coffee label?

It means the coffee was grown under a recognized organic standard that prohibits synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, verified through independent certification rather than a marketing claim the grower makes on their own.

Is this coffee both organic and decaf?

Yes — it's a certified-organic, half-caf coffee, meaning it's grown without synthetic inputs and blended down to a reduced-caffeine cup. The two qualities are certified and achieved independently of each other.

How much caffeine is in this half-caf coffee?

Most of the naturally occurring caffeine is removed through the half-caf blending process, though we don't publish a specific caffeine figure for it.

What does this coffee taste like?

Expect a gentle, dried-fruit cup: caramel, raisin, and date notes with soft acidity and a smooth finish — a mellow, comforting profile rather than a bright or acidic one.

Is Mexico a major source of organic coffee?

Yes — Mexico is one of the world's largest producers of certified-organic coffee, thanks to a long history of smallholder farms in its highland regions adopting organic methods.

Do you have a non-organic version of this coffee?

Yes — our Semi Decaf is grown on the same Finca Fatima estate without organic certification, if that distinction doesn't matter to you.