Tejao - Mexico
About this coffee…
Tejao is a coffee from the Sierra Mazateca, Oaxaca, where coffee farms are located above 1600 metres above sea level (masl). This altitude and cold climate result in a much later harvest (Feb to April) compared to other parts of Mexico. Cherries in La Mazateca take longer to mature, resulting in a high potential area for very sweet, floral and complex coffees. Due to a high altitude, the region has not suffered significantly from Coffee Leaf Rust (roya), a dangerous and infamous fungal pathogen. As a result, La Mazateca maintains its historical cultivation of typica, a variety now very rare within Latin America due to its susceptibility to roya.
Coffee cultivation is very largely organic in the Mazateca community. The farms maintain a culture of minimal intervention; producers are quite reluctant towards pruning, and are proud of their 2-3 metre-high, 40-year-old typica trees. Coffee is produced in agroforestry, meaning within different levels of shade and amongst other crops & wood. Average land size is 1 hectare and productivity averages 2-3 bags per hectare - in other countries, Colombia for example, the average is 20-25 bags per hectare. This makes coffee from this area very rare.
Farmers process their coffee on dry parchment. Cherries are usually harvested and left to rest overnight. The cherries are sometimes floated using a plastic container filled with water and a sieve to take out floaters (low density fruits). Next step is pulping which is usually manual. Pulped beans are then left to ferment without water in a wooden tank for 24, 48 sometimes 72 hours, due to the cool climate and cold nights. This extended fermentation very likely is what enhances the coffees’ flavours and creates its complexity. Drying then occurs on patios, usually on top of the farmers house.
Most of La Mazateca coffee is bought by local intermediaries who then sell it to bigger intermediaries, who use it to improve high volume blends, sold with zero traceability. Seeing the potential in this area, Ensambles, a partnership in the area decided to implement a local supply chain that would enable them to separate the best tasting coffees and make them available to some lucky roasters and coffee drinkers in Europe.
In March 2021 Ensambles set up a regional warehouse and lab based in Huautla, the main town in La Cañada. Most of the coffee communities of La Mazateca are 1 to 3 hours away from Huautla, by car, on dirt roads. Being close (relatively close, it’s still Mexico) to producers means Ensambles can evaluate their samples quickly, provide feedback, and invite producers to see and participate in lab activities. The vast majority of producers in this region had never heard of cupping or yield calculation, nor had they used a humidity reader – equipment and concepts so obvious to specialty coffee professionals in consuming countries. The Ensambles team went to pick up most of those coffees directly at producers’ houses and paid cash against coffee. There is a huge amount of logistics work in getting those nanolots from remote communities to Huautla. Ensambles partner with a local Mazateco association for transport and safety measures.
Tejao is a blend of nanolots from 30 producers of the region. All selected nanolots went through Ensambles’ careful QC. A single producer’s lot in their warehouse weights on average 63 kgs of parchment, so each producer delivered less than a bag of coffee each on average.
Origin: Mexico
Region: La Cañada, Oaxaca
Altitude: 1600 - 1900 m.a.s.l
Processing: Traditional processes and dry fermented for 48 hours.
Varietal: Typica & Bourbon
Tasting Notes: Stone fruits, caramel, oranges