Oaxaca Crumble

Country: Mexico
Region: Siera Juarez, Oaxaca
Elevation: 1300-1700 masl
Process: Washed
Coffee Variety: Typica, Mundo Novo, Bourbon

Tastes like: Green Apple, Pecan, Wheat Biscuit.

This wee fella is a delicious washed Mexican coffee. A wicked crowd pleaser, with communal and ecologically focused origins. From Cafe El Zapoteco, an association representing over 180 producing families, nestled in Sierra Juarez, a temperate mountain range, North of Oaxaca City.

Like much of Mexican production, coffee in Oaxaca has taken a hammering from leaf rust and a lack of financing for producers. The traditional nature of the region's production, tends to exacerbate the latter of these two points, where most production takes place on small family plots, and is then sold on to community wet mills, where it’s pulped and fermented, often in hand built, wooden tanks, then dried on petates, traditional woven mats We’ve been working with Raw Material in sourcing coffees from this region since we started back in 2021, as they work closely with producer groups to give them better access to techniques and resources to improve production quality, volumes, and profitability for producers. 

Cafe El Zapoteco, an association led by Romulo Chavez, has been working with our mates at Raw Material for several years in establishing direct relationships with producers,  in order to obtain higher prices while also fostering the deep communal culture, rooted in the historical ties of the community to the region - Rather than employ pickers during the harvest, when a member’s coffee is ready to be picked, neighbouring producers will help to harvest their coffee.

This is a tantalisingly sweet coffee, with notes of stewed plums, apple and biscuit, reminiscent of a fresh baked crumble.  It’s nothing wild, it’s just breezy, smooth, and a delicious example of a washed mexican coffee.