Mexico Pluma de Oaxaca

Whole bean coffee

We roast to order on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays and ship the following day. Orders will be included in a roast if they’re received by 11:59pm Eastern Time the day before.

Origin: Mexico

Region: Oaxaca

Locality: San Agustin Loxicha

Producer: Josue Perez Garcia

Lot: 10

Altitude: 1600 - 1800 meters

Process: Washed

Variety: Pluma Hidalgo

Tasting notes: Chocolate, dried fruit, almond

Thirty years ago a sub-region of Oaxaca called Pluma Hidalgo was a household brand in the specialty coffee origins of the time.

Estates at lower elevations would buy the higher quality coffee grown at smaller, isolated farms up the mountain, and bulk them together with their own. This practice raised the average quality of the estate coffees, and as the gatekeepers to market access the estates reaped most of the benefits. A complex blend of factors led many estate owners to abandon coffee production altogether, leaving the smallholders behind.

Recently some international buyers have begun recognizing the quality of the coffee grown at these small farms. With concerted effort these exceptional coffees are finally seeing differentiation in the market and due compensation to the producers, who are cultivating a new value proposition for a sustainable future in coffee production.

Transparency

This is our fourth year buying from smallholders in Oaxaca through our partners at Red Fox Coffee Merchants. We tasted dozens of offers from the harvest at origin in May 2022, including two lots from Josue Perez Garcia, #10 and #11, scoring them both 86. We bought both lots totalling 35 69kg bags for $5.00/lb EXW, on a day when the Coffee Commodity price was $2.17/lb.

Photo Credit: Red Fox Coffee Merchants