Source Analysis by Mayra Orellana-Powell
Collaborative Sourcing
When coffee is cultivated and harvested from small family-owned farms, exporters play a critical role in ensuring quality and fairness. The collaborative sourcing team of Terra Coffeas México and an export company called Galguera Gomez hit the mark on delivering high-quality community lots with traceability and transparent pricing for farmers. Galguera Gomez has been preparing and exporting coffee since 1985 and specializes in preparing traceable Oaxacan lots and paying producers higher incomes for the quality of their coffee. Terra Coffeas México provides post-harvest strategies and cupping expertise that has brought many talented producers into the specialty coffee fold. The model is the perfect hybrid where individual farmers take responsibility for farm management and the post-harvest process with support from Terra Coffeas México, ensuring that each farmer has access to best practices.
Growing Region
This particular lot comes from families living near the town of San Mateo Yoloxochitlán who cultivate coffee on farms with just a few acres. Known as the Sierra Mazateca de Oaxaca, this growing region is located in the northernmost corner of Oaxaca where the local population still wears traditional indigenous clothing and intercrop coffee with bananas, corn, beans, and fruit trees.
Processing details
During the harvest, each producer follows a strict protocol which includes picking cherries at optimum ripeness, hand sorting, and floating in a salt solution to remove damaged, undeveloped beans and inoculating the cherries before macerating for 48 hours. Next, the beans are depulped, and fermented for 24 hours while submerged in water. After fermentation, the parchment is washed and placed on patios or raised beds to slowly dry to 11%.
Exporting preparation
Dried coffee is transported to the Galguera Gomez dry mill facility where coffee is received and stored in GrainPro bags, cupped and selected for export. The Galguera Gomez preparation ensures traceability and quality control throughout the post-harvest process, which is a vital process for establishing higher prices for producers.
Diedrich IR-5 Analysis by Doris Garrido
Envision a region in Mexico brimming with cultural richness and home to 19 distinct ethnic groups. This diversity is so profound that each ethnicity has preserved its unique traditions and languages —approximately 54 in total — most still actively spoken today. This is the state of Oaxaca, an expanse celebrated for its exceptional gastronomy, art, and textiles, and as the birthplace of some of the finest corn varieties. Oaxaca is also renowned for mezcal, and here, coffee is traditionally enjoyed with a “piquete”— a shot of mezcal. But Oaxaca’s offerings don’t end there; it has gifted us with a vibrant, flavorful coffee from the northern highlands, specifically the Sierra Mazateca. The producers are located in the Cañada region near the town of San Mateo Yoloxochitlán, part of the Teotitlán Flores Magón municipality. While you may be familiar with Pluma, Oaxaca’s famed coffee cultivar, (that one belongs to a different region, “Pluma Hidalgo”), this coffee I’m referring to is not, comprising varieties like Bourbon, Marsellesa, and Typica. My recent tasting of coffees from this region allowed me to appreciate the producers’ craftsmanship. This particular coffee impressed me with its notably vibrant acidity, evoking orange blossom notes. Contrary to the typically delicate and subtle coffees of this region that I have tasted in the past, this one stood out with its tangy clarity. The producers have truly showcased their ability to elevate the flavors to remarkable heights, and I am both delighted and honored to roast their beans.
The roasting process lasted 9 minutes and 37 seconds, with 4 minutes and 44 seconds dedicated to drying, 3 minutes and 26 seconds to yellowing, and 1 minute and 27 seconds to post-development. I began with 50% Diedrich airflow, increasing to 100% at 360°F, handling the roast with care as my main goal.
For this roast, I set the charge temperature at 420°F with airflow and waited for the turning point before introducing gas, initially at 100%. After 3 minutes, I reduced it to 30%. I aimed for straightforward adjustments to gas and airflow, and the coffee responded well, reaching the first crack at 385°F. I concluded the roast with an end temperature of 396°F, then immediately proceeded to cup. Although I’m aware that cupping immediately post-roast doesn’t allow the coffee to rest, my eagerness prevailed. My tasting notes highlighted a bright acidity with flavors of Meyer lemon, plum, fresh cantaloupe, and crisp cucumber, all rounded off with a hint of dry spices and a chocolate finish. In agreement with Chris Korman, who joined me for the tasting, we concluded that further development could enhance the sweetness, particularly by extending the Maillard reaction during both the yellowing and post-development phases. This adjustment could potentially refine the sweetness of this already exceptional coffee.
