duck-rabbit coffee

This coffee is from last year's Mexico Cup of Excellence winner Pepé Arguello. Pepé’s father was a well-known producer in Chiapas. When Pepé purchased Finca Santa Cruz he bought it with the intention of building his business around quality. He takes a precise, agronomically advanced, and conservation-focused approach. He is experimental, collaborative, and always working to improve and refine.

At Finca Santa Cruz coffee grows in harmony with the surrounding nature reserve. The farm is filled with native, shade-providing Inga trees. When it comes to processing, coffee is harvested according to Brix (measurement of coffee fruit’s sugar content), then floated in water to identify and remove underripe cherries before being pulped and put into concrete tanks where it ferments for 20-72 hours. Fermentation times are impacted by ambient temperature and weather, but ultimately pH is used to determine length of fermentation. After fermentation coffee is dried on mesh covered raised beds for 17-25 days. Moisture levels are closely monitored with a hydrometer throughout the drying period.

All the carefulness and hard work put in at Finca Santa Cruz is evident in the cup. The cup is super nice. It is very clean, vibrant, and complex with nice caramel tones, malic acidity, and top notes like blackcurrant and tart cherry.

Xinabajul Producers offers a crowd pleasing cup. Xinabajul is the name of the original Huehuetenango town as well as the name of the direct trade program (Proyecto Xinabajul) that this coffee was sourced through. This lot is a blend from six small-holder famers in the Huehuetenago region, specifically the Santa Barbara, Cuilco, La LIbertad, and San Pedro Necta growing areas. The cup is well-balanced with nice bittersweetness, base flavors of raw sugar and honey roasted nuts, and notes of dried fruits, granola, and chocolate covered almonds.