Planting forests and growing coffee in Mexico

Planting forests and growing coffee in Mexico

No prizes for guessing where our Mexican Chiapas coffee comes from – that’s right, it’s a state in Mexico called Chiapas, which sits on the border of Guatemala.
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Chiapas is a diverse region with beaches, lakes, jungle and mountains, and produces some of the world’s finest coffee. It also has a rich history, and contains several well-known Mayan ruins.

The farmers who grow Switch’s single origin Mexican coffee belong to a cooperative called San Fernando (well, technically it’s called Sociedad de Producción Rural Unión de Ejidos y Comunidades San Fernando). San Fernando farmers are spread across 50 communities, with around 25 small-scale farms each.

As with the best of coffee farming cooperatives, San Fernando helps its members with healthcare, education and financial services as well as employing central technical staff to help members improve their organic farms over time.

Another thing we love about San Fernando is its tree regeneration programme. Deforestation is a big issue in many coffee-growing areas, where poor farmers are often incentivised to destroy precious forest and jungle to make room for more farmland. San Fernando runs its own seedling nurseries and is committed to constantly improving tree density on coffee farms and the surrounding areas, which is good for the world and also helps buffer the local microclimate against climate change, protecting the coffee growing industry.

The great success of this cooperative and the quality coffee it produces has led to San Fernando paying its members much higher rate for its coffee that continues to grow. The flow-on effects for the community have been astounding, with improved social infrastructure and financial stability.

Switch Espresso Mexican Chiapas coffee has a light, sweet aroma and is mild and smooth with clean lemon acidity and caramel, hazelnut and citrus flavours. The body is light and there is a lingering cocoa aftertaste.

Order your Mexican Chiapas coffee here.