This coffee comes from a high-altitude area of the Sierra Madre, bordering the Biosphere Reserve El Trifuno, which is the habitat of an endemic bird, El Quetzal.

 

This ecological region represents 30 percent of the flora in all the Chiapas territory. The environment here creates a cloud forest, thanks to the Soconuscu rainforest zone around the Novillero River. The weather is humid with lots of shade, cool conditions at night and excellent soil, which create a perfect environment for the development of specialty coffee.

Chiapas Teresa comes from a group of small producers (Productores Agroecologicos de Villa Corzo) and is harvested and processed by hand using traditional farming methods. After harvesting it is de-pulped, washed and dried in the sun.

 

Productores Agroecologicos de Villa Corzo was born on January 13th of 2015 at the municipio Villa Corzo, Chiapas. This group was created with the objective of pursuing an added value for their coffee, and not just delivery to a warehouse where it would be blended with other coffees that had lower quality and no traceability at all. They also wanted to encourage positive ecological farming practices where farmers could work in harmony with the surrounding ecosystem.

 

It started with 57 producers, all indigenous people called as the Tzetzales from the region “Los Altos”.  In 2015 the association joined the program of “Por más café” together with Café California, to replant almost all their farms that were affected by the roya crisis in 2014. Due to the roya they had to replant almost all of their farms.

 

Their coffee plantations are in the Municipality of Villa Corzo between the mountains surrounding this village. The coffee has an average altude of 1100 to 1500 meters above sea level.  It develops in a microclimate between the mountains of Villacorzo, and this prevents the coffee from leaf rust and other diseases. With the technical advice from Café California the association encouraged ecological farming practices to prevent damage to the endemic flora and fauna of the area and has been doing so ever since.