April 2025 Discovery Coffee

MEXICO | SIPRO
DARK CHOCOLATE, BROWN SUGAR, TOBACCO

REGION | Amatenango de la Frontera, Chiapas
PROCESS | Washed
SPECIES | Arabica 
VARIETY | Caturra, Mundo Novo
ALTITUDE | 1500-1750 MASL

ABOUT SIPRO

SIPRO stands for Sierra Productora de Cafe, and is based in both Oaxaca and Chiapas. The association is brand new, and is the brainchild and combined effort of 9 mostly young coffee producers in Amatenango de la Frontera. The small association also represents 20 other producers, who are family members of the core 9 producers. 
Amatenango is directly across the border from the Guatemalan region, Huehuetenango; sharing its terroir with one of the most famous regions in the world for impeccable coffee quality. The group decided to work together as an organised cooperative, to have more strength within the market, with better access to specialty buyers. Although cooperatives and associations can represent the interests of many producers, when they are too large they may be less effective, as every decision requires the approval of all, which may be less  dynamic.
From afar, Mexico is a growing economic force, ranked 64th globally in GDP per capita. However, the coffee-producing states in southern Mexico face a very different economic reality. Oaxaca and Chiapas are the two poorest states in Mexico, with poverty rates of 60-80% and extreme poverty rates of 20-40%.
Chiapas is Mexico’s poorest state. It also has the largest indigenous population and is the country’s biggest producer of coffee. The average yield is higher here than in Oaxaca, but the local market price is  lower.  
The vast majority of Mexico’s 500,000 coffee producers are smallholder farmers and have one hectare or less of land under coffee. This makes the average annual production for many producers just 100kg, making coffee farming more and more unsustainable. This is fuelling widespread migration to urban centres in Mexico and the United States. In short, coffee production is disappearing.

HISTORY OF COFFEE IN MEXICO

As throughout most of Mesoamerica, Mexico was first planted in coffee during early colonial times, most likely in the late 18th century. Due to the greater attention paid to the region's rich mineral deposits and mining opportunities, however, coffee didn't really develop as an industry until later, especially coming into its own in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with the redistribution of farms after independence and the emergence of smallholder farmers, specifically those of indigenous origin. In the late 20th century, the Mexican government established a national coffee institution called INMECAFE, which, like the FNC in Colombia and ICAFE in Costa Rica, was developed in order to offer technical assistance, botanical information and material, and financial credits to producers. Unfortunately, INMECAFE was something of a short-lived experiment, and dissolved in 1989, leaving growers with a vacuum in their access to support and resources—especially those in very remote rural areas. This disruption to the infrastructure as well as the coffee crisis that followed the end of the International Coffee Agreement plunged Mexico's coffee farmers into despairing financial times, which of course in turn affected quality dramatically. Throughout the 1990s and since the beginning of the 21st century, an increased presence, influence, and focus of Fair Trade and Fairtrade certifications and the emphasis of the democratically run small-farmer cooperative organisation has worked to transform the image of Mexican coffee to one that reflects sustainability, affordability, and relatively easy logistics, considering its proximity to the United States.

In recent years, Mexico has struggled mightily with coffee-leaf rust and other pathogens that have reduced both yield and cup quality. This, combined with enormous turnover of land ownership and loss of labour to emigration and relocation has created a somewhat tentative future for the producing country, though we have seen great cups and great promise from quality-inclined growers and associations there. The top cups are fantastic, and they're worth the work and long-term investment to try to overcome the obstacles facing the average farmer, who owns between 1–5 hectares (though some of the midsize estates will run closer to 25 hectares).