Unroasted - Mexican HG EP Fair Trade Organic

MEX-OFT-0.5

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About the bean

Lovers of Mexican coffee can be quite insistent on their beans from the Chiapas region of southern Mexico. If it ain't from Chiapas, it just ain't, according to some. Well, here you go, folks: come and get your Chiapas beans.

Our current crop of FTO beans from one of our favourite coffee nations is sourced from a large group of small producers in four different areas of Chiapas: Escuintla, Huixtla, Motozintla and Siltepec. Having formed a cooperative in 2016, the Fereración de Sociedades Cooperativas Cafetaleras de la Sierra Madre FC de RL (FEDESI) now represents 3,279 such producers, each with their own wet mill and drying patio.

Why is Chiapas coffee so good? Coffee was originally introduced to this part of Mexico by border neighbour Guatemala, which may explain why Chiapas offerings are so often compared to the best of Guatemala: medium body, medium brightness, a dash of spice and a sweet complexity with a lovely chocolate finish.

Chocolate lovers - get on this!

Quick Notes

REGION: Yajalon-Tumbala, Chiapas
ALTITUDE: 700 - 1,100 masl.
PROCESS: Washed 
VARIETIES: Bourbon & Marsella
CERTIFICATIONS: Fair Trade and Organic
HG: High grown, a typically denser and higher quality bean.
EP: (European Prep) Indicates the coffee has undergone rigorous
sorting - usually by hand to ensure defective beans and foreign material have been removed. 

Taste Test

Our last batch of Mexican FTO was also from Chiapas; different cooperative, same chocolate character.

We went straight for a Full City roast brewed in a French press and this is what we got: rich, strong, with notes of dark chocolate, toasted almond and sugar cane; the finish was especially nice and lingered on the chocolate note. We didn't get too much in the way of complexity at this roast profile. A lighter roast might accentuate some of the other expected notes this crop should carry: nutmeg, clove, lemongrass and tangerine.

As always, Mexican beans are good and game for anything: espresso, specialty drinks, cold brew and more. Pairs well with food. What a bean!

Roast recommendation: City to Full City for the chocolate lovers. For an explanation of our different roasts, see here: see here: http://greenbeanery.ca/pages/roasting-chart.