Working with Raw Material, a social enterprise importer who donate 100% of their profits to the producers, I have selected a wild and boozy natural from SIPRO, an association in Chiapas, Mexico.

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%

Production yields have become dangerously low in these regions. Over the last ten years coffee leaf rust disease and the lack of financial or agricultural means to tackle it has reduced production by up to 90% in some regions. The average yield in Oaxaca is now just 100kg of parchment per hectare. For context, in Colombia, the average yield is 2,400kg per hectare.

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.

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 much lower.

SIPRO stands for Sierra Productora de Cafe. The association is brand new, and is the brainchild and combined effort of 8 mostly young coffee producers in Amatenango de la Frontera. 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. An association’s size can also risk impeding the success of the individual producers in capturing good profits. SIPRO aspires to be dynamic whilst representing the interests and ensuring competitive profit returns for each of their members.

Compared to the state of Oaxaca, there seems to be more machismo in Chiapas. It is Mexico’s largest coffee producing region, yet female coffee producers are very uncommon here. In comparison, Oaxaca coffee producers are roughly 50/50 men and women.

Coffee as a crop is far more important for Chiapan producers than it is for Oaxacan producers. Oaxaca has a strong history of wood as a cash commodity, whereas Chiapas is very coffee dependent, with considerable infrastructure and fertiliser distribution to the producers here.

This is a very distinctive coffee. Intense dried fruit and ripe berry flavours it reminds me of rum-soaked plums, Pedro Ximinez Sherry and even has a hint of pine in the finish. You will definitely remember this one.

Photos by Jessie May Peters courtesy of Raw Material CIC