Cafeólogo
Cafeólogo is a project founded by Jesús Salazar, focussing mainly on indigenous coffee growers in the area around San Cristobal de las Casas in central Chiapas, the southernmost region of Mexico. San Cristobal is located rather close to the border with Guatemala, and is in fact only around 200 km or about a 5 hour drive from San Marcos Huista in Huehuetenango, where we continually work with our Guatemalan partners from Primavera.
In 2010, Jesús began working with 4 small producers, but soon many others in the area were curious about the project, and the prices they could be paid for their coffee through their access to the speciality market. To be able to accept so many more farmers into the project, Jesús realised that quality control would be very difficult if each producer was to grow and process their own coffee. So he made it his mission to add value to each group of producer’s work through careful processing, undertaking a Q-processing course and building community wet mills to process coffee from surrounding farmers.
Tenejapa
Members of the Cafeólogo team have immersed themselves in coffee growing communities around San Cristobal, learning the local Mayan dialects, understanding each farmer’s practices, their challenges and their needs. They also surveyed some of the more technical aspects of the land here, identifying potential pest and disease problems, and sequencing the varietals they found on each farm. Through this, they were able to present each farmer with a package of agronomic support.
Lorenzo and Samaria
This lot was grown by Lorenzo Intzín and Samaria López, two neighbours located in the highlands outside Tenejapa, just a short drive north from San Cristobal. Don Lorenzo is 71 years old, and has been working with Caféologo since 2015. Jesús describes him as very dedicated; dedicated to working with the land, and to the lifestyle of being one with nature. It was Lorenzo who introduced the Caféologo project to his neighbour Samaria López, only 36. Samaria is the leader of her family, working together with her two sisters and her mother to tend to their chickens, a few cows, and to their parcels of coffee. Both Lorenzo and Samaria are members of the Xeltal culture, an ancient Mayan culture that still thrives in the highlands of Chiapas. When we discussed this lot with Jesús, he reflected on this lot as a manifestation of the change he sees in the community here; an older man passing on responsibility and respect to a younger woman, giving hope to a lasting coffee industry in Chiapas.
This lot was processed using a washed method, creating a very clean and clear representation of the terroir here. Samaria and Lorenzo grow a mix of Bourbon, Caturra, and the native Mexican cultivar Garnica.
Fresh ripe stone fruit opens the cup, giving a fresh and ripe feel, balanced by a deep honey sweetness.
