COMMON GROUND - MEXICO

So where does this coffee come from?

Chiapas is home to the northern Sierra Madre mountains, which run all the way down to Honduras. Coffee is grown all over them, and the area surrounding San Cristóbal de las Casas is no exception. This coffee comes from multiple smallholder farmers surrounding San Cristóbal, and is all processed together at the same drying station. 44% of the population of San Cristóbal is indigenous -- mostly Tzotzil -- and most of the farms have been in the family for generations. This, like most Mexican coffee, is grown with organic processes on the farm.

San Cristóbal de las Casas is part of the Pueblo Mágico programme -- a government initiative from the Secretaría de Turismo that recognises, promotes, and provide funding for towns which have a unique cultural, natural, or historical significance.  

How did we choose it?

Getting this coffee has been a long time in the making. Way back in February, our lead roaster Millie visited Mexico with Covoya to see some farms and meet some coffee producers -- and actually went to some of the farms around San Cristóbal!

When I was running this description past her, she told me something really interesting about her time there (other than seeing the coffee being produced) -- when she visited, they didn't just have an English-Spanish translator, but a Spanish-Tzotzil translator too. There are 550,000 native Tzotzil speakers (mostly in Chiapas), and its one of the most widely spoken languages in the region.

We're so excited to finally have this coffee in the roastery! It's the perfect halfway point between our other espresso beans: it's clean and bright, but still creamy and nutty.

How should I make it?

Best for espresso, but also works great as Aeropress, cafetière, or Moka Pot. 

For espresso, we use 18g of coffee for a 36g yield, aiming for 27-30 second extraction.

For anything else, aim for 18g per 250g of water! We like to brew for around 2:30 for Aeropress, and 4:00 for cafetière.