Mile Zero Decaf

About the Coffee

Mile Zero is Fernwood's house decaf, built on coffees sourced from Peru and processed using the Swiss Water® Process. Swiss Water® removes caffeine without chemical solvents by using water and a carbon filter system to draw caffeine out of the beans while keeping the flavor compounds intact. The result is a decaf that skips the chemical shortcuts most commercial decafs rely on.

Peru has become a reliable source for decaf blends because its coffees tend toward sweetness and low acidity, which holds up well through the additional processing step decaffeination requires. Many decafs lose body and complexity in the process, which is why the selection of the base coffee matters as much as the decaffeination method. Fernwood chose Peruvian lots specifically for their balance and how they carry through to the finished cup.

Mile Zero is roasted to a medium profile, keeping the body round and the finish clean. It's designed as an everyday decaf, not a specialty novelty, meaning it's built for consistency across brewing methods rather than optimized for a single preparation style.

About Fernwood

Ben and Terra started Fernwood in 2007 by purchasing Parsonage Café in Victoria, BC. Both came from restaurant backgrounds, and when they started a family, buying a café was a way to build something lasting while staying grounded at home. The purchase came with a 1936 Barth roaster in the back of the café, and what started as curiosity about that old machine became the center of what Fernwood does.

Early on, Fernwood made a deliberate choice to put coffee on grocery shelves at a time when most specialty roasters avoided it. They roasted in one-pound bags and ran daily quality control to make sure the coffee held up outside the café context. That focus on consistency carried through to a Canadian Barista Championship win, which for them confirmed that making good coffee accessible and making it well weren't competing goals.

"Fernwood is a roaster you'll see all over Reddit as being one of BC's best. I asked to try their coffee, and now I get what all the hype is about. I bought a few extra bags of Manos al Grano for my stash at home."

- Dean, Director of Coffee