Mexican Coffee Growing Region Huatusco: History, Varieties, Flavor Profile and Characteristics

Mexican Coffee Overview

Mexico is a major coffee-producing country in Central America, turning out coffee with a comfortable taste and charming aroma. Premium Mexican coffees include Coatepec, Huatusco, and Orizaba, with Coatepec rated among the world's finest. Mexico's growing regions share geographical and climatic conditions much like neighboring Guatemala's to the south, so they are grouped in the "Central America" category. Production is distributed across states such as Veracruz and Oaxaca, and the washed Arabica beans from the highlands stand out for exceptional aroma and acidity. Beans are graded primarily by altitude; they run large, with balanced sweetness and acidity and rich flavor, and suit medium to dark roasting. Most of the harvest is exported to European and American markets.

Characteristics: well-balanced acidity, aromatic and smooth, rich body, vibrant sweetness and acidity, intense flavor, with distinctive fruity notes.

A Brief History of Mexican Coffee

Coffee first arrived in Mexico in the late 18th century: in 1790, a Spaniard brought coffee plants from the West Indies for trial cultivation in the country's south. Cultivation proper began in the early 19th century in Veracruz state and gradually spread, later reaching the southern states of Oaxaca and Chiapas. Today 12 Mexican states grow coffee. In the 1996-1997 harvest season, Mexico produced 6,652,173 hundredweight - equivalent to 5,100,000 bags (60 kg per bag) - making it the world's fourth-largest coffee producer at the time.

Mexican Coffee Grading

Estricta Altura (Spanish) / Strictly High Mountain Grown (English): grown above 4,200 feet

Altura / High Mountain Grown: grown above 3,300 feet

Prima Lavado / Prime Washed: grown above 2,700 feet

Coffee-Producing States

Mexico currently has 12 coffee-producing states: (1) Chiapas (2) Oaxaca (3) Veracruz (4) Puebla (5) Guerrero (6) Hidalgo (7) San Luis Potosí (8) Nayarit (9) Jalisco (10) Colima (11) Tabasco (12) Querétaro

Key Producing Regions

Among them, Veracruz, Oaxaca, and Chiapas deserve particular attention:

Veracruz State

The earliest coffee-producing region, growing mostly low-altitude commercial-grade beans. Veracruz's high-quality coffees come from highland areas such as Orizaba, Huatusco, and Coatepec.

Oaxaca State

Oaxaca produces some fine coffees, the best from the Pluma region on the slopes of the Pacific coast, where coffee arrived in the 1860s.

Chiapas State

Chiapas is Mexico's southernmost state, bordering Guatemala. In its Soconusco administrative region, the Sierra Madre mountains facing the Pacific, at elevations of 2,000 to 4,000 feet, grow premium mild coffee. Beans from the region are consolidated in Tapachula, the capital of Soconusco, which sits at 600 feet with the small Pacific port of San Benito 24 miles away - the outlet through which these beans are exported.

Chiapas State: Geography and Climate

Area: 73,724 square kilometers

Climate: mostly tropical, humid to semi-humid, with rainfall peaking in the hottest months.

Geography: Chiapas's mountains are largely volcanic - the Chichonal volcano in the north erupted as recently as 1982. Water is abundant: two of Mexico's largest rivers, the Grijalva and the Usumacinta, flow from Guatemala through Chiapas, so during the summer rainy season, substantial volumes pour through the rivers and lakes down into the lowlands.

Coffee Growing Areas

(90% in highland regions, 10% in lowland regions)

Highland regions: Motozintla, Tapachula, Jaltenango, Bochil, San Cristóbal de las Casas, Pichucalco, Yajalón

Lowland regions: Copainalá, Comitán, Ocozocoautla, Palenque, Ocosingo

Coffee Cultivation

1. Primarily the Arabica species.
2. Arabica varieties grown in the highlands include Typica, Maragogype, Bourbon, and Mundo Novo.
3. Lowland varieties include Caturra, Catuai, and Catimor.
4. Coffee in Chiapas is classified by altitude: Prime Washed, Extra Prime Washed, High Grown, Strictly High Grown - with coffee grown across the various altitude levels.

Coffee Processing

Thanks to abundant water, harvested cherries are washed-processed, then sun-dried in farmers' courtyards. In some high-altitude areas, beans still travel to processing plants or cooperative unions for hulling and grading by hand or with pack animals; in the river basins, they go by boat to dry mills for final processing.

The Rise of Organic Cultivation

Chiapas is Mexico's poorest state, and years of tense confrontation between government forces and guerrilla groups have left its indigenous population in extreme hardship. Conventional coffee production - chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and the like - damages the environment while yielding barely enough income to survive. Fortunately, Fairtrade organizations and organic coffee agencies have thrown strong support behind the indigenous production cooperatives, upgrading their knowledge and techniques and helping Chiapas's premium organic beans survive and thrive.

In the cup, Chiapas's highland organic beans show noticeable sweetness, full body, and relatively low acidity - a profile that suits the Chinese palate particularly well. It differs markedly from famous Central American origins such as Guatemala Antigua and Costa Rica Tarrazú, whose beans carry far more prominent fruity acidity.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Since Mexico's finest coffees are washed highland Arabica, taste the style at its most celebrated: FrontStreet Coffee's Kenya Little Tomato, a washed Kenya AA TOP from the Thika region (1,550-1,750m, SL28 and SL34) finished with the signature K72 double-washed fermentation - exploding with cherry tomato, dark plum, pear, and brown-sugar juiciness. For a cleaner, more floral expression of washed processing, FrontStreet's washed Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Guodingding is the classic choice.