Mexico Finca Santa Isabel Microlot: Featured Origin Select Coffee

Our Origin Select coffee this month comes from Southeastern Mexico, in the Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas (Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas). This coffee comes to us from Femerides Vázquez Pérez, owner of Finca Santa Isabel in the town of Las Pilas, and we are thrilled to have it available this month as our Origin Select. This organically grown coffee that we carefully selected represents the finest profile one could hope to achieve from a Mexican coffee: a nutty
flavor, rich, chocolaty overtones, and a delicate body with crisp acidity and a dry white wine finish. Our roasters chose a medium roast to bring out the best in this wonderful microlot.

Fermerides is a member of the CESMACH cooperative in Chiapas, Mexico. This farm is a total of 6.8 hectares of which 2.8 are planted in coffee. The farm is certified organic and a mix of shade trees helps create a growing environment conducive to quality production. Coffee is harvested at peak ripeness, de-pulped the same day, and fermented dry for a period of 24 hours. Once fermentation is complete, the coffee is washed twice and moved to a concrete patio where it is dried for an average of 5 days, depending on the weather.

One of the things that has set Mexico's coffee apart is the abundance of both Fair Trade- and organic-certified coffees, especially in areas like Oaxaca, Veracruz, and Chiapas. The strong influence of indigenous groups and cultures has long been the driving force between smallholders' embrace of organic practices, as they are often in line with traditional growing philosophies and utilize similar, if not the same, techniques.