A snapshot of Mexican coffee production

Mexican coffee production is widespread, with more than 300,000 mostly small growers dedicated to its cultivation across 15 of Mexico’s 32 states, and despite the country being the 10th largest coffee producer in the world, the crop makes up only a small fraction of the country’s agricultural output.

Most of the coffee grown in Mexico is of the arabica kind, and more than a third is grown at high elevation which yields the higher quality, and more expensive, varieties of beans.  Much of it is grown in the shade, which adds to the quality of the coffee.

Quality and yield improving after ‘leaf rust’ blight

Coffee yields have recovered in recent years after a blight of ‘leaf rust’ devastated crops and caused production to fall by half between 2012 and 2016.  However, as the recovery emerges, regions most affected by the blight appear now to be producing some exceptional coffee beans with improving yields. In the 2019-2020 season, producers harvested about 3.7 million 60-kilogram (132 pound) bags, and that is forecast to increase to 3.9 million bags in the 2020-2021 season.  Although less acreage is expected to be planted, efforts have been made to increase the number of plants per hectare and to plant with more disease resistant trees.

Mexico’s coffee-growing regions

Mexico has four principal growing regions, and the coffees that emanate from each one carry distinct flavors and aromas, influenced by the local terrain, rich volcanic soils, the climate, and elevation.

Chiapas: distinct, highly sought-after coffee

Mexico’s southernmost state of Chiapas is the country’s biggest coffee producer, accounting for more than 40% of the annual crop.  The high rainfall in this region keeps the volcanic soils moist which is ideal for coffee growers.  The best arabica coffees from Chiapas carry a smooth, medium-bodied taste, with bright yet moderated acidity, and hints of cacao.  The aroma from these coffees is strong, often chocolatey, but they tend to be smooth and creamy on the palate and often have hints of a caramel-like sweetness to them.  Some coffee connoisseurs consider Chiapas’s coffee to be the among the best of all Mexican coffees.

Veracruz: dark and bold volcanic influences

The state of Veracruz situated along the shores of Mexico’s Gulf coast produces about a quarter of the country’s coffee. Veracruz’s topography climbs steeply from the coastal plains into an elevated mountainous terrain that provides ideal growing conditions for arabica coffee beans.  The coffee from this region is known for its distinct combination of being smooth and full-bodied, with a balanced acidity that carries undertones of nut and chocolate in its flavors.  The nutrient-rich, dark volcanic soils of this region imbue their influence into the taste of this region’s coffee.

Oaxaca: noticeably milder, and refreshing

Mexico’s state of Oaxaca, bordering Chiapas on the south side, Veracruz to the east, Puebla on north side, and descending from its central highlands to the shores of the Pacific Ocean in the west is also a terrain permeated with volcanic nutrients and plenty of moisture.  The Pluma region is the most renowned for coffee growing in Oaxaca, and beans here are grown at lower elevations that produces a range of distinct flavors.  Milder than most other Mexican coffees, Oaxacan beans carry a sweeter caramel overtone, a light citrus acidity that gives them a refreshing taste, a creamy body and, like many Mexican coffees, they also carry base notes of cacao.

Puebla: the dark horse of Mexico’s coffee regions

The Sierra Norte region in the state of Puebla, southeast of Mexico City, produces around 15% of the country’s coffee.  This highland region is the least well-known of Mexico’s coffee growing regions and coffees produced here are strongly influenced by the elevation and diversity of nutrients from this terrain that is watched over by Popocatepetl, Mexico’s most famous —and active— volcano.  The beans harvested from this region create a complex coffee flavor that includes notes of vanilla, citrus, nutmeg, and cacao.

Imported coffees continue to thrive in Mexico

Notwithstanding the wide availability of fine home-grown coffees, around half of the coffee consumed in Mexico is imported.

This is partly because Mexican producers focus on growing the finer quality arabica varieties, instead of the lower grade robusta beans employed for making the instant coffee that remains popular here, and is likely also driven by demand for specialty beans and brands among coffee drinkers in Mexico’s urban areas who can afford to be choosy.

Imported coffee brands, which include erstwhile names like Lavazza and Illy, elaborated using arabica beans —whether from Colombia, Costa Rica or even parts of Africa— are invariably more expensive than similar quality Mexican coffee.  A touch of malinchismo might be at play, or simply a yen for variety.

A bygone era of old-world coffee shops

In years past, the coffee shop/restaurants run by Chinese immigrants —of which there were several in and around the Chinese quarter of downtown Mexico City and more beyond that— were nearly always full.

The “café chino,” as these were only ever referred to, was typically a long thin hall moving back from the street front. Half of the façade would be taken up by a glass window filled with different kinds of sweet bread to eat in or take away (and the odd bluebottle).

Down one side of the entrance would be the coffee bar and the cash register, and the other side would be taken up by a row of tables or booths.  The specialty of the house would be café con leche: a small amount of concentrate would be poured from a metal coffee pot into the bottom of a glass mug, and hot milk from another poured on top, with the server lifting the spout farther and farther from the mug as it filled, creating, if done precisely, a frothy top.

Black coffee —café americano— was steam-pressed from the machine behind the bar, and each cup was charged at the same rate.  Hygiene was hardly of first importance to the café chino, and patrons did well not to be over-zealous inspecting the specks on the table or trying to steal a glance at the kitchen.

Perhaps the king of coffee shops was Café La Habana, on the corner of Bucareli and Morelos, a stone’s throw from the historical Chinese clock.  La Habana brewed the strongest coffee, served in thick white cups that were slightly wider at the base than at the brim (awkward for stirring).  It was popular among intellectuals and, being about a block from such erstwhile giants of the Mexican press as Excelsior and El Universal, a frequent meeting place for journalists of the old school: threadbare suits, beaten-up leather briefcases stuffed full with dog-eared press releases, political “tips” several times removed from reality.

The emergence of contemporary coffee houses

Against this, the chain restaurant/coffee shops such as VIPS, TOKS, and Sanborns provided free refills on drip-brewed coffee, competing in quality with “Golden Cup” plaques awarded by the Mexican Coffee Council, and in convenience with quick-service bars where the temporarily idle could while away several hours loading up on caffeine without having to keep paying.  This is still true today, although people are generally much more rushed.

In addition to these places, with the advent of the mall culture there sprung up a number of smart coffee shops —Coffee House, Coffee Station, and so on— which added snacks, coffee paraphernalia, and an assortment of home-grown and imported coffees, ground or whole, to the standard offerings while also increasing the number of derivative beverages to their range of refreshments on offer.

And then Starbucks came.  Agreeable to the modern business class, the tourist looking for something familiar, and the lover of things American, this comfortable hybrid of convenience and recreation proliferated and also became a favorite daytime hangout of the country’s middle-class youth.

Straddling this period from local shop to chain to franchise is Bisquets Obregon, which developed from La Perla de Oriente on Alvaro Obregón Avenue in the historical Colonia Roma.  Like the café chino, Los Bisquets is also a place to get café con leche, and the house specialty, scones.  Brighter and cleaner, with its characteristic green and yellow décor, the restaurant also sports a selection of freshly-baked sweet bread at the front counter.

Small independent coffee shops continue to thrive

Perhaps the most famous of the traditional Mexican cafés is El Jorocho, that serves quality coffee principally sourced from Veracruz; customers can also buy the beans and ground coffee in bags for home brew.  This family-run shop was set up in Mexico City during the early 1950s in the heart of the bohemian district of Coyoacán—a neighborhood that remains one of the capital’s most popular quarters for friends and families to meet and spend an afternoon or evening out together.

In towns and cities across Mexico, small independently-run coffee shops continue to trade, and thrive.  Like the local neighborhood tienditas, they have prevailed even in the presence and growth of franchise coffee shops.

The owners of these independent establishments often create comfortable nooks where patrons can meet, socialize, and take light refreshment amidst informal and often homely surroundings that are usually more intimate and feel less rushed than the cookie-cutter franchises.

Serendipitous discovery of independent coffee houses can happen by taking an exploratory walk down side streets of any towns you visit or asking locally.  Digital generations are likely to consult their map-app, or search on Instagram.

Changing tastes in coffee consumption

With the rising popularity of coffee-drinking for entertainment, the casual expert who knows that the good stuff is called arabica and grows on mountains is in ever-greater company, and the value of that knowledge as a conversation opener has dwindled somewhat.

The purveyors of the best coffees tend to print that kind of information all over the packages, and some even include rather sophisticated stories about how the coffee comes to be in the bag at all, almost rivaling the verbosity of the cereal companies who provide enough literature on the box to see you through a week of breakfasts without having to pick up a newspaper or speak to anyone else at the table, except to waffle something that sounds like “I’m reading” through soggy flakes.

There are many, if not infinite, combinations of roasts and grinds for the different coffees to make it impossible to say which are the best; besides, there is no accounting for taste.

Coffees grown in Mexico

Possibly the best known Mexican coffees come from Chiapas, which is the state that produces the most. But there is plenty to be said for Oaxaca state’s Pluma region, as well as coffees grown in Veracruz state’s Córdoba region.

For home consumption, a fair selection can be found at most Mexican supermarkets, although for a wider choice, the coffee shops that grind the beans on the premises are are good place to go: they also tend to have more sizes of bags, so you can try out different kinds quite frequently, ordering quarter-kilos (about a half-pound), “un cuarto,” or find one you always want, and buy a big bag of it. The handful of high-end food shops, some with branch networks across the country, also stocks ample ranges of high quality Mexican and imported coffees.

It’s probably fair to say, without being too nationalistic, that Mexico produces enough of its own good quality coffee as to make paying extra for imported grains a waste of money. Of course there is the Malinchista factor to consider, for which Colombian and Costa Rican coffees are readily available as well as the top Italian coffee brands, although generally speaking malinchismo doesn’t apply to hot drinks. That may be just as well as a majority of the coffee drunk in Mexico is still of the instant kind, and there you definitely want to stick with the Swiss company’s brand.

Instant coffee is still popular in Mexico

Not everywhere has good coffee, and some restaurants that specialize in other areas definitely fail in this. A number of taco restaurants have cottoned-on to the trend in customers’ demands for a decent coffee after a meal and now serve proper Café Americano, Cappuccino, or even Espresso, but there remain others whose only offering is “agua para Nescafé,” (they bring a cup of  hot water, a spoon and the instant coffee jar), or “café de olla,” which is coffee made in a cooking pot, la olla, and sweetened with treacle, piloncillo, and cinnamon. Tastes fine, but isn’t what you might expect.