Hecho En Mexico
Every year it’s something. Volcanoes. Roya. Currency collapse. Internal politics. Corruption. Lack of financing. Lack of labor. Every year our partners in Mexico are faced with some force majeure, yet they still come through with some mind-changing examples of what is possible across the further reaches of Mexico.
Over the years, we’ve traveled deeper and deeper into Guerrero, Colima, Oaxaca, and most recently Chiapas to find partners producing exceptional coffees. Every year we find more reasons to come back. The people, the coffees, the palatable progress — it’s worth it. The challenge is also real. Building supply-chains with languages that leap from Spanish to indigenous languages like Chinateca, Mixtec, Zapotec, Mazateco, and Mixe. These are daisy-chains of trust passed down through the generation, now combined with new needs for transparency and financing and communication and sweeping improvements from picking to processing, drying and storage.
This year’s force majeure is Covid-19. As quarantine set-in across America, the United States of Mexico were operating freely. March was peak harvest, and we were approving offers from our remote cupping labs. There was more excitement than ever about what we were tasting.
Then quarantine hit Mexico, and hard. Samples got tied up en route. No labor was available at mills. Police were enforcing stay-at-home orders aggressively and still were in Oaxaca in early June.
Lots that represented years of investment and efforts across eight supply-chains, hundreds of farmers, and nearly two dozen communities got stuck mid-export.
It’s painful when you finally get what you ask for, and then don’t know what to do with it. We are left cupping jaw-dropping lots wondering what comes next.
What does come next? The coffees we approved in March, and again in June will see an arrival in late July – early August. Truly amazing coffees that come to us through truly inspiring efforts are on their way!
We took a chance on these coffees, because we believe in the communities and want these programs to be here next year. The coffees themselves are good, real good on their own merit. You’ll like what you taste.
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