Mexico Chiapas - Motozintla Microlot

Brown sugar, chocolate, almond, sweet caramel finish

Bag Weight	69 KG BAG
Harvest Season	2020/21
Status	Spot
Lot Number	P608240-2

Carteret, NJ: Out of Stock Bag(s)

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About This Coffee

The small farmers that work in this region use traditional methods of producing and processing their coffee. Following organic practices, each individual farm controls the production of each cherry: from the planting of the seeds to the drying of the coffee. In the afternoons the coffee is taken to elevated surfaces, usually the roofs of the producers’ homes. Since this region is known for having light rainfall during this time period, the farmers use nature to optimize their farming practices. Motozintla - from Tzotzil language meaning ‘Squirrell's Hill’ - is in the region of Sierra Mariscal, bordering Guatemala and sharing the healthy and distinctive volcanic soil that provides coffee with characteristic profile and excellent quality. This Organic Certified spot comes from the Motozintla microlot, made up of 496 individual producers. Altitudes reach 1500-1900 masl, and varietals include Typica, Bourbon, Caturra and Catuai.

Country of Origin	Mexico
Harvest Season	2020/21
Coffee Grade	MEX CA WA SHG
Bag Type	Grain Pro / Ecotact
Plant Species	Arabica
Processing	Washed
Cup Score	84.75
Variety	Bourbon, Catuai, Caturra, Typica

Region	Chiapas, Motozintla

History of Coffee in Mexico

With seeds from the Caribbean, cultivation began in Veracruz, where custom house records indicate a few hundred bags of coffee were exported as early as 1802. But these exports were apparently anomalous because after 1805 coffee would not be exported again for twenty years, after the war of independence. Production did increase over this period, presumably for domestic trade and consumption. In 1817, a planter named Don Juan Antonio Gomez started “intensive cultivation” further south, where coffee thrived at high altitudes. By 1826 there were half a million trees in Cordoba and Mexican coffee was being exported. In 1828, seeds—or possibly plants—from Arabia (Yemen) were planted in Uruapan, near the Pacific coast west of Mexico City, by Jose Mariano Michelena. Trees were brought from Guatemala to be planted in the southern state of Chiapas in 1847, and Oaxaca would become the third largest producer of Mexican coffee by 1889.

Growing Coffee in Mexico

Mexican coffee grows in 15 states throughout the southern half of the country but over 90% comes from four states: Veracruz, Oaxaca, Chiapas, and Puebla. Specialty coffee comes from the highlands of Veracruz on the gulf coast, the mountains of Oaxaca and Chiapas at the southern tip of Mexico. In Veracruz coffee grows from 1,100-1,660 m.a.s.l. In Chiapas coffee grows from 1,300-1,700 m.a.s.l. In Oaxaca coffee grows from 900-1,650 m.a.s.l. Coffee is grown by more than half a million farmers, 95% of these being smallholders cultivating less than three hectares and 85% of Mexico’s coffee farmers are indigenous Mexicans. Most Mexican coffee is grown under shade and Mexico is one of the world’s largest producers of certified organic coffee and Fair Trade coffee. Most Mexican coffee is Bourbon, Catura, Maragogype, or Mundo Novo, though other varieties can be found. Mexico grows almost no Robusta.