Mexico Chiapas Rosalba Tovia

Mexican coffee is not a favorite at our shop, but there are always exceptions, and this one deserves some love.

We met the mastermind, Rosalba Cifuentes Tovia, a couple years ago and was super impressed and bought her coffee. We've been to her farms, and town, and even though she processes the coffee for several farmers in the village, this particular lot has been grown just by her family members. 

She is so excited about her coffee. You can tell how passionate she was about sharing her coffee with people who will appreciate it. This is single varietal (Bourbon), strictly high grown (4,000-5,000 feet altitude), well sorted, very fresh coffee. When you're selecting a Mexican coffee, you want the ones high up the mountain, which this one is, in the town of Bella Vista.

This Mexico coffee shares a lot of traits with a Guatemala Huehuetenango, which is right across the border. The lighter roasts are a little bit fruity (lemon, melon, apple) with a lot of complexity. It's a really dense bean and needs a lot of airflow. We had a couple of test roasts where the inside wasn't getting roasted enough, so we had to up the airflow. Medium roasts of this bean are so easy to drink. Not terribly complex, but so creamy, so sweet, almost like a toasted marshmallow, it just is gone before you know it. Maybe 5 to 10 seconds of 2nd cracks is the most you really want.

You can take it darker than that for French Roast, but it's a little bit expensive for French Roast. You would generally be better off using a less expensive bean; like Peru, Uganda or Colombia, but this one certainly can handle it if that's what you're looking for. In general, I'd tell you to stay away from Mexican beans, but you don't want to miss this one.

US Arrival: August 2024