Traceability Project

Mexico

SHG Washed Women Coffee Project – Bromelias (6402A)

Region: Chiapas

Municipality: Siltepec, Santiago El Pinar, Exchuc y Chenalhó

Cooperative: Alma de Chiapas

Altitude: 1,500 m

Cultivation: sun and shade (Chicomuselo), shade grown (Los Altos)

Havesting period: December through April (Chicomuselo); January through March (Los Altos)

Soil: clay soil

Varietal: Oro Azteca, Bourbon (Chicomuselo); Bourbon, Caturra, Mondo Novo, Garnica (Los Altos)

Process: washed with fermentation

Drying: sun-dried on patios

Espresso

Juicy body with a rich sweetness and lively acidity. Notes of raspberry, candied apricot and red apple, with a persistent pralined almond aftertaste.

Cupping

Juicy body with a simple but deeply satisfying acidity. The cup opens with candied apricot and raspberry, which blend gently into hints of vanilla and caramelised almond.

Alma de Chiapas

Founded in 2011, Alma de Chiapas brings together 764 smallholder farmers from across the region, including 119 women producers organised into 10 working groups. Membership provides access to financing, agricultural training and educational opportunities for members’ families.
This coffee comes from two of those groups, based in the areas of Chicomuselo and Los Altos. In Los Altos, the women producers hand-select only the ripest cherries, which are then mechanically pulped and fermented for 36 hours, before being washed in clean water and dried on patios in the sun for 5 to 7 days. In Chicomuselo, careful cherry selection is followed by manual pulping and a shorter fermentation of 12 hours, after which the beans are washed in wooden or concrete tanks and sun-dried for 2 to 3 days. The lots are then blended and left to rest before final bagging.