Mexico

Mostly washed arabica from Chiapas, Veracruz and Oaxaca, graded by altitude into Bueno Lavado, Prima Lavado and Altura.

Coffee reached Mexico from the Antilles at the end of the 18th century, entering Veracruz first, but was not exported in large quantities until the 1870s. Chiapas became the main growing state after coffee arrived there in the late 19th century, and Chiapas, Veracruz and Oaxaca account for most of the coffee land. Mexican coffee is graded mainly by altitude: Bueno Lavado below about 3,000 ft, Prima Lavado at 3,000-3,600 ft, and Altura above 3,600 ft. Roughly 96% of production is arabica and about 90% of beans are wet-processed. Harvest runs from November to May, peaking in December to February. Coatepec is often called the Coffee Capital of Mexico, and Pluma Hidalgo gives its name to the prestigious Pluma gourmet coffee.

History

Coffee came to Mexico from the Antilles at the end of the 18th century and was first introduced in Veracruz, but was not exported in great quantities until the 1870s. Chiapas became the main growing region after coffee reached it in the late 19th century. Through the 1970s and 1980s coffee was a major source of income for more than two million people, and land in coffee grew to 497,456 hectares by 1982. INMECAFE was disbanded in 1989 and the International Coffee Agreement was dismantled the same year, and a coffee crisis followed, intensifying between 1999 and 2003.