Day 3: Mexico, Chiapas
Day 3 of the RISE Coffee Countdown Calendar - Mexico, Chiapas
Did you know? Traditional Mexican coffee is brewed with spices like cinnamon, star anise, and orange peel in a ceramic pot. Sounds Christmassy right?
Origin: Mexico
Location: Chiapas
Altitude: 800-1,500 masl
Bean: Arabica
Varietals: Bourbon, Caturra, Sarchimor
Process: Fully washed
Tasting notes: Toasted almonds, caramel and tangerine
Certifications: Fair Trade
Why Alice and Ben love it: We are big fans of Mexican coffee, and this is the first of two in the calendar! The cup is really juicy and with notes of sweet caramel we are sure you will enjoy this brew. Sourced from FEDESI, a cooperative formed by six local farming groups in Chiapas, this coffee highlights the power of collaboration and quality craftsmanship.
Federación de Sociedades Cooperativas Cafetaleras de la Sierra Madre FC de RL (FEDESI), was founded by 6 coffee groups located in the southern state of Chiapas. These six producer groups are from Escuintla, Huixtla, Motozintla and Siltepec. In 2016 the producers combined their harvests, exporting their first certified cooperative container of coffee.
The members produce their own harvest of coffees with small wet mills on their farms. A wet mill uses water to separate, ferment, and clean the coffee beans inside the coffee cherries. The coffee is then dried on patios. These producers are renowned for the consistency of their output and discipline in processing coffee cherries at their optimum ripeness.
Chiapas famers also intercrop other products such as beans and corn for family needs selling onto the local market. Intercropping is an agricultural practice where two or more crops are grown together on the same piece of land during the same growing season. This supports the farms' biodiversity and stops intensive farming practices from damaging the wider eco-systems.
