El Café de las Mujeres – México

A coffee from Chiapas with a woman’s name behind it

Chiapas is one of Mexico’s largest coffee-producing regions, and also one of its most diverse. The microclimates that develop in its mountains, combined with well-distributed seasonal rainfall and fertile soils at considerable altitudes, favor coffees with varied, high-quality profiles. Rosalba Cifuentes’s farm is located in the mountains of Bella Vista, at an altitude of 1,650 meters, in an environment where natural shade and cool temperatures slow the ripening of the cherries and concentrate the sugars in the bean.

What sets this farm apart is not just its origin. Rosalba has built her work around careful sampling, regular cupping, and rigorous bean sorting. This level of attention, which is delegated or simplified on many larger farms, is part of the regular process here. The result is a coffee with its own identity: a triple varietal of Typica, Bourbon, and Caturra that combines the aromatic complexity of historic varieties with the consistency that comes from working on a small scale with care.

This coffee works with all brewing methods, which isn’t always the case with specialty coffees. In espresso and moka pot, its sweet, creamy profile is nicely concentrated. With drip, Aeropress, or French press, the floral and milky notes have more room to shine. It’s equally balanced when brewed in a superautomatic machine.

At Cafés El Criollo, we use a natural roast for this lot, without pushing the profile toward darker notes, so the sweetness and floral fragrance that characterize this farm reach the cup intact.

Characteristics of the women’s coffee

Why choose this coffee

This coffee was created to recognize the work of women producers in the coffee supply chain. And the coffee lives up to that purpose: sweet and creamy, with very mild acidity that makes it ideal for anyone who hasn’t yet explored the world of specialty coffee. And if you’re looking for a gift for someone who already knows coffee, 85 SCA points and coffee grown in the microclimates of the Chiapas mountains are more than enough reason.