San Francisco Ozolotepec (Mexico)

This coffee is an unexpected but welcome addition to the lineup – a super sweet cup of raspberry and peach notes sandwiched between the buttery, honeyed goodness of graham cracker.

Drinking premium, washed coffee from Mexico usually requires paying close attention; its profile won’t shout at you, but it will stay with you. Mexican coffee is well-represented in the U.S. market. Yet despite its proximity, most commonly available offerings vary in quality as many of them are optimized for commercial consumption. However, places like Oaxaca are known to produce exquisite coffee. San Francisco Ozolotepec is nestled in Sierra Sur, a region plentiful with high-quality lots that are grown on small farms in remote locations. This offering is a melange of many micro lots and coffee varieties in the area, including Pluma Hidalgo (a Typica mutation that grows in Mexico), Typica, and Bourbon. Brilliant nuance and quiet elegance are well represented in this Oaxacan gem.

Something worth noting about this coffee, and others like it, is the relationship to its context within the specialty coffee market. What value does a crop that often yields less than a living wage have in a place like Oaxaca, where many workers are emigrating north in pursuit of better-paying opportunities? As modern consumers are demanding flashy and boisterous flavors, mild and delicate washed coffees like this are almost considered relics of a different era. Why pay more for nothing new? Oaxacan coffee must be sold and purchased at an equitable price (usually much higher than standard market rates) for farmers to justify their labor. The attention to detail and tedious care imbued in their processing and transport reflect an intangible but very real reason why coffees like this are so special. Limited access to modern processing innovations, low yields in harvest, and difficult market accessibility pose significant financial risks to farmers and buyers, but also a high reward. Paying a higher price honors the work required to get this coffee to market and parallels the effort that it takes to appreciate its one-of-a-kind character. Without the work, it wouldn’t exist. I owe a big thank you to Ozolotepec farmers and Osito Coffee importers whose efforts have made it possible for us to enjoy!