Mexican Chiapas Nueva Paraiso La Concordia

Description

Mount Everest comes to mind when looking for words to describe coffees from Chiapas. And even though Chiapas has coffee production reaching an impressive 1700 meters above sea level near the El Triunfo biosphere reserve, we’re not talking about elevation when we say Mount Everest. Rather, the reference is to the level of difficulty in cultivating heirloom varieties like bourbon and typica despite the devastating toll of leaf rust throughout Mexico.

Getting our hands on some of the best coffee from Chiapas is no accident. Rather, results come from a complex and meaningful supply chain. This particular lot was sourced from Azahar, a trading partner we first discovered in Colombia. Azahar has taken their model to Mexico and established a network of growers who understand the specialty market potential, and markets their coffee directly to buyers internationally on a quality-based pricing scale. Price transparency is at the core of Azhar’s trading ethics. The producers of this particular lot were paid $2.45 per pound for their dried parchment. Which is pretty crazy high for Mexican coffee.

Each producer uses their own micro-mill to depulp, ferment and wash their harvest coffee and then dry the coffee in the sun on patios before transporting the coffee in parchment to a centrally located dry mill facility where the coffee is prepared for export.

Tasting Notes: A stellar Mexican & great daily drinker! Very nice and chocolaty cup of coffee with some nutty accents and a hint of caramel. A clean lemony floral crispness upfront, only at the light to medium roasts, accentuates as the cup cools. A great cup from light to dark. Lighter roasts promote the floral crispness, caramel like tone, and nuttiness of the cup. Medium to dark will promote the more chocolate like tones, reducing the floral/caramel. Dark roasts into 2nd crack have some complimenting roasty notes  and will be fuller bodied and very chocolaty.

Roasting Notes: An easy coffee to roast. Medium chaff, nice screen and pretty even roasting. This cup will mostly appeal to medium and dark roast fans. A little longer setup helps smooth out a bit of acidity if you roast it a bit too light for your preference.