Mexican Chiapas

One of the coffees I look forward to getting every year is Mexican Chiapas. Here in New Orleans we only have it available in the port to pick up and roast roughly between February and June in any given year. Sometimes more sometimes less. But It’s one I go nuts for, and it’s one I like to show off to my customers.

The Chiapas coffee growing region of Mexico is in very southern Mexico. It’s just north of the Guatemalan/ Mexican border. The coffee grows in high altitudes in volcanic soil. This causes the coffee to develop slower and as it develops slow it develops more flavor.

The fun thing about this coffee is that it is grown at roughly the same latitude as Kona in Hawaii and Jamaican Blue Mountain. Those coffees too are grown in volcanic soils. So Chiapas coffee is so very similar to those coffees it’s almost indistinguishable. And those coffees are very very expensive and highly sought after. Chiapas is not as expensive and not well known so you can enjoy great tasting high end coffee for a fraction of the price by drinking it.

So long as you’re not a sucker for names, and don’t like to act like a high roller in front of your friends Chiapas is something you might want to check out. And watch all of that Kona coffee out there. A lot of it says “Kona Blend” on it. I would venture to gather that most of that “Kona Blend” coffee is really mostly Mexican coffee.