MEXICO GLORIA CARRIZOSA CRÈME DE LA CRÈME

You know it’s the holiday season when our favorite Crème de la Crème Mexican coffee releases… Gloria!  

We began purchasing Gloria Carrizosa’s coffee in 2017 when she won the Mexico Aromas Coffee Auction at the world-famous surf break, Playa Escondido. We sent our roasters to Mexico to participate in this auction, and, every year, we’d buy Gloria’s coffee by winning it in the auction, bidding the highest price against roasters from around the world. In 2020, that changed when we purchased Gloria’s coffee at a locked-in price: an astonishing $30/lb (the average of what her coffee has earned in the auction the past three years). Gloria’s farm is quite small, only producing 2-3 sacks of coffee each year and you, our Vigilante Familia, get to enjoy all of it!

About Gloria & Her Farm

Gloria’s farm is in the Mazateca region of Mexico. Gloria speaks the indigenous Mazatec language spoken by only about 200,000 people in that region. The language barrier makes it difficult for some to get ahead. Gloria was no exception, but she persevered, working with a translator to learn how to improve her farm. To elevate the quality of coffee, she did every stage of the processing herself, using an old cherry skin depulper and making due with what she had access to. She slowly harvested the coffee (20-30 kilos per week) for three months, waiting patiently for all the coffee cherries to slowly maturate. This dedication to quality is what earned Gloria top dollar for her coffee. But when she started, she did not have a guarantee that she would earn more money: simply a hope. She believed she could improve her coffee and worked hard to make that dream a reality. In doing so, she did something greater than producing world-class coffee. She inspired women and men in her community and all of Mexico. 

“And this is where the importance of becoming a micro-entrepreneur. Ms. Gloria Carrizosa is the example, because for each sack of coffee she obtained an income of more than 29 thousand pesos aka $1,425 US dollars, and if the same amount of coffee had been sold in the informal market or to coyotes, she would only have received between four and five thousand pesos aka $196 US dollars.”  - E-Oaxaca

The taste

Aromatically, Gloria’s coffee has literally won “Best Coffee of the Year.” So it’s wonderful to say the least, with notes of chocolate, strawberry, and caramel. The taste in the cup is effervescent, offering a syrupy medium body with notes of sweet potato, hazelnut, molasses, and a smoothing lingering finish of graham crackers.