Mexico Cup of Excellence #4

Producer Adelina Escalante Flores
Farm Peña Blanca
Municipality Ángel Albino Corzo
State Chiapas
Region Fraylesca Region

Sun Exposure Mixed
Farm Size 10ha
Altitude 1500 masl
Latitude 15.83008
Longitude -92.76105

Variety Marsellesa
Process Washed
Fermentation 24hr Dry
Drying 20-23 Days on Covered Raised Beds

Flavor Honey, Blackberry, Citrus Fruits, White Peach, White Grape
Descriptors Crisp, Bright, Balanced

About this coffee This past May the Eleventh Mexico Cup of Excellence competition took place in the town of Cordoba, in the eastern state of Veracruz. It was here in the 1740s that Spanish colonists from Cuba introduced coffee, and it was fitting that the Cup of Excellence competition was held in an old sugar mill built just a few years prior to coffee’s introduction to Mexico. Peter had the honor of being one of the 20 International Jurors for the competition, and over the course of five long days and hundreds of cups, he fell in love with a couple of the bright, clean, citrus forward washed coffees including the one offered here.

Adelina Escalante Flores and her family grow several varieties of coffee on their small 10-hectare farm in the Fraylesca Region of Chiapas. Despite experiencing major setbacks during the coffee leaf rust (La Roya) outbreak in 2012-2014, Adelina and her family were able to persist by pruning infected trees, applying dolomitic lime to strengthen tree nutrient uptake, and by planting new leaf rust resistant varieties such as Marsellesa. Alongside planting new varieties, the family has also slowly invested in quality control measures such as buying a two-disk pulper, building new fermentation tanks, digging a new well for clean water, building covered raised beds for drying, and other measures. The results are in the cup – this is the first time that Adelina and family have entered the Cup of Excellence program, and they were rewarded with a 4th place finish.

This is a traditional washed coffee. After picking the ripe cherries, the coffee is pulped and floated before undergoing a 24-hour fermentation in water. After, the coffee is moved to covered raised beds where it is dried for 20-23 days before being bagged and rested for another month to ensure homogenization of moisture. It was then submitted to the Cup of Excellence program, placed 4th in the Traditional Washed category, and at which point Idle Hands, along with two coffee friends from Japan, were able to secure the winning bid on the lot!