Mexico (HG) Altura

"MEXICO

In 2020 Mexico is the world’s eighth largest coffee producer, and was the fifth largest green coffee resource for the United States in 2018. If you were growing up more than a half-century ago as I was your view of Mexico was formed by Hollywood movies in which Mexico is depicted as a hardscrabble country of desert, dust, and poverty as that depicted in films as The Treasure of the Sierra Nevada (1948). That is about as accurate a picture of Mexico, as imaging the USA as a three thousand mile long version of Time’s Square. Mexico is a large diverse country which includes green mountains, sand beaches, mysterious rain-forests, big cities, awe-inspiring volcanos, and some magnificent coffee growing regions.

Jobin1 reports that coffee was introduced to Mexico from the Antilles at the end of the 18th century. Ukers2 does not address the origin of Mexico’s coffee at all. It may/ probably was brought by the Spanish from their colony of Cuba or Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) but I have been unable to pin down the who, when, and where of the introduction. Spain and her colonial administrators may have been so busy digging up the country for the gold and silver they had found, and were exploiting there, that they may have had little interest in noting the particulars related to what must have appeared to them to be a minor agricultural crop introduction.

Most of Mexico’s coffee is grown in the south, close to Guatemala and belize, with Chiapas, Hidalgo, Puebla, Veracruz, and Oaxaca being some of the more recognized producing regions to US roasters, and educated consumers. Coffee was introduced into Chiapas toward the end of the nineteenth century, and quickly was expanded through much of southern Mexico, with Chiapas remaining the largest producer. There are about 515,000 coffee producers, in Mexico, with 310,000 working coffee plots of 1-3 hectares (about 2.5 - 7.4 acres) with 85 percent of the farmers being indigenous people.

Mexico produces high-value organic coffee, mainly for export to the United States. However, Roya (Himileia Vastatrix) the leaf rust disease, has affected the output of organic farms more than conventional, because chemical pestacides, and herbacides are not used in organic production. According to Mexico’s Secretaria de Agricultura y Desarrollo Rural (SADER) about 7% - 8 % of Mexican coffee growers are cultivating organic coffee. Indigenous cultural communities have moved toward embracing organic practices, as they are similar to the traditional farming practices with which they, and their parents and grandparents grew up. Today, In Oaxaca, Veracruz, and Chiapas organic and fair trade coffee is successfully produced by cooperative societies primarily for the US specialty market.

The Chiapas area is one of the most beautiful, fertile and biodiverse in all Mexico, There is an assorted population of animals and plants in the Chiapas, along with a rainforest that crosses the Sierra Madre Mountain range towards Vulcán Tacaná, which at 13,320 feet (4,060m) is the second highest peak in Central America. Remote Mayan architectural sites are to be found in Chiapas. Chiapas is also home to a large Mayan-speaking population amidst the disparate local population. Bourbon, Typica, and Mundo Novo are among the heirloom varieties of Arabica coffee that are produced on the organic farms.

An interesting feature of the Mexican organic farming culture is the use of bees as pollinators. According to the University of Vermont’s Gund Institute For Environment, this practice, which has been used for over two centuries in Mexico. According to an article published by National Public Radio (NPR) in 2017, bees, “increase the quality of the beans by making their size more uniform,” Depending on whose statistics you are looking at Mexico is either the #1 or #2 producer of organic coffee VS Peru. There are issues, as with Roya, but on balance the skilled smallholder, cooperative-linked farmers of Mexico have made a place for themselves by quite literally taking farming back to its Mexican roots, to find a unique niche in the coffee market where the smallholder can thrive. We think of the Specialty movement in coffee as being a US affair, when actually there are consuming countries, as Germany, that have a long history of importing high quality Arabicas. While based on volume Mexico is not among Germany’s top dozen coffee resources, Germany gleans some of the very best Mexican coffee from the top of the crop each year for its specialty industry. The US still sees some of the better grades, but considering our geographic proximity to the source, we should be doing better. The answer is to best the price that European specialty roasters are willing to pay. When you consider the savings in transportation for bringing the beans to the US VS shipping to Europe, we should be able to outbid the competition, and still be made whole by waiting US consumers. Mexico is an undervalued specialty single origin having a floral citrus scent, medium body, nuttiness, chocolate, and a muted brightness. The high grown varieties (Altura) high-grown Mexicans render a clean cup with complex balanced sweetness resembling chocolate toffee. In some lots I have found a cherry- vanilla- cocoa thing going on, and in some Certified Organic Certified Fair Trade lots a touch of earthy and spice-flavor notes.

Kenneth Davids, at www.coffeereview.com writes, “The typical fine Mexico coffee is analogous to a good light white wine — delicate in body, with a pleasantly dry, acidy snap. If you drink your coffee black and prefer a light, acidy cup, you will like these typical Mexico specialty coffees. However, some Mexico coffees, particularly those from high growing regions in Chiapas, rival the best Guatemala coffees in high-grown power and complexity.”

Rich Dark Roast™. –DNS, coffeeman

1. Philippe Jobin, The Coffees Produced Throughout The World, LeHavre, 1992.
2. William Ukers, All About Coffee, New York, 1922."