Have you ever heard of Chiapas coffee? Chiapas is located in the southern moutain region of Mexico next to the Pacific Ocean.

With a land mass of nearly 46,000 sq. miles, the Chiapas climate ranges from tropical to sub-humid due to the vast changes in altitude.

Chiapas coffees from this region are sought after for their delicate aroma, medium body, natural chocolate flavor and bright acidity. These coffee beans produce a well balanced cup of coffee with an acidity reminiscent of dry white wines.

The best Chiapas coffees are grown in the southeast corner of the state near the border with Guatemala, and may bear the market name Tapachula after the town of that name.

At their best, Tapachula or Chiapas coffees display the brisk acidity, delicate flavor, and light to medium body of the better known Mexican coffees of Oaxaca and Vera Cruz States.

Coffee production is nothing new to the farmers of Chiapas. Since the arrival of the plantations in the early 1900s they worked as hired hands during the coffee harvest and learned about production and processing.

Soon, seeds began trickling back to the Highland communities of Chiapas. Once the farmers started their own coffee fields, they eventually organized into producer cooperatives in search of better markets.

Most coffee growers in Chiapas, Mexico, live in ejidos, which means, land held in common by the entire community, and worked by individual families.

The coffee fields are usually 2 to 10 acres each and are spread out high in the moutains. Farmers must walk two or more hours over extremely steep terrain just to get to their fields.

Entire families are involved in the coffee harvest requiring many trips to the coffee field and back. The 100 pound coffee fruit sacks of are carried on their shoulders. The women often carry a child on their backs as well.

But for the coffee farmers, the work is just beginning with the harvest. The fresh picked coffee must be processed with a hand cranked machine that is first used to depulp the beans.

Next, the beans are soaked and stirred in several changes of water over several days to begin fermentation. Then the coffee is spread out on a concrete patio to dry in the sun.

The beans must be raked and turned daily, and sometimes taken up and covered if rain comes. In the Chiapas highlands it’s not uncommon to have rain ten months out of the year.

Finally the dried green coffee beans are selected, with only the best beans sacked for sale. The sacks of beans are again hauled on their backs, hoisted into trucks and taken to the cooperative’s warehouse for further quality checking and weighing.

Then they are reloaded onto trucks to go to the beneficio or dry-processing facility, where the outer husk of the bean will be removed and the Chiapas coffee will be roasted.

These farmers work unbelivably hard to offer you a coffee with truely amazing flavors. If you are looking for a unique taste experience, Chiapas coffee is a good choice.