Mexican Coffee

Check out this video, it shows the production of coffee in Mexico.

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGn-PlOSf98

Our Survey For The Blog

After the presentation on our blog, please follow the link to our survey, which will have questions based on our blog posts.

Survey

Café Justo

Amid the global endeavor for fair trade in the coffee business, we found one small success story. A small organization based in Chiapas, called Café Justo, was launched in 2002. With a loan from a border ministry of the Presbyterian Church, they purchased a roastery in the border town of Agua Prieta, just across the border from Arizona, where they roast their coffee and ship it into the US.
Due to the direct nature of the enterprise, Café Justo is able to pay farmers $1.60, in addition to providing medical insurance.
With the great success that they have achieved, they were able to purchase another roastery in Tijuana, just south of the border from California, with more to come.

Read more about Café Justo here.

Mexico ranking

Mexico has been rated the fourth highest country in coffee production, and fifth in amount of land dedicated to coffee production: 703,341 hectares.

In addition, the majority of the coffee that the US imports comes from Mexico.

For more info, click here.

We recently recieved two new responses to our survey, with some notable results. Firstly, the two people that responded both reportedly drank, on average, three cups of coffee daily. The other interesting datum was that one of the two new responders was the first to prefer coffee from a chain store, Dunkin' Donuts, to that of the local coffee shops.

Facts regarding Mexico and its coffee production

We recently discovered two articles describing the history of Mexican coffee and where it is grown. Apparently, coffee was introduced to Mexico from Jamaica in the 1800s, and within two centuries (in 1980), became the country's most profitable export.
Most Mexican coffee is grown in the Southern and South-central . During the 1990s, over two million mexicans were growing coffee, most for limited profit on small plots (fewer than two hectares). These small farmers produced a third of the nation's coffee.

Mexican coffee tends to be light-bodied and nutty, occasionally with a heavier acidity and overtones of chocolate.

The southern regions of Mexico, where coffee is typically grown, tend to be consistent in temperature year-round, allowing for reliably coffee production.

Read the articles here, here, and here.

Fact:

In Mexico, there are over 80000 producers of coffee. In Mexico, coffee is 50% of the Mexican organic foods market.

Our Survey Results

In our recent survey on coffee intake by MHS freshmen, we found that, out of the five people who have taken the survey, only one actually drank coffee daily, at two cups a day. 40% of our tests suported fair trade coffee, though no one was able to express an understanding of the concept of fair trade. Finally, we found that out of the local coffee shops, Langdon Street Cafe and Capitol Grounds were the most popular, though half of the responders preferred homade coffee to store-brewed coffee.

Mexican grown Arebica coffee

This coffee is sold by Brouilliard Cafe and is harvested in the Coatepec region of Mexico, which is one of the world's best coffee-growing locations. This kind of coffee has been grown in Mexico for about 200 years (originally from the West Indies) and is grown at an altitude of 1200 m (about 3900 ft).

Artisan Coffee Presentation

The presentation by Mané and Aaron was, in short, impressive. It was helpful to have a real person to pose questions to, because the answers to specific questions are often difficult to find on the internet. The information he gave us about the nature of fair trade and the industry was very informative, and the demonstrations of different methods of brewing coffee was interesting.

Making Mexican Coffee

The Mexican Coffe Group

This group is composed of three members that will be posting links and info only on mexican coffee and how it is made.

Mexico