El Zapoteco, Sierra Juarez, Mexico | Washed FSC-9152

There is a very strong, communal aspect to Cafe El Zapoteco across its three towns that is deeply rooted in the historical ties of the community to the region.
Cafe El Zapoteco is a group of some 180 coffee producing families led by Romulo Chavez in the Sierra Juárez. It is quite informally organised, but its community bonds run deep.

There is a huge potential for quality here and working closely with Romulo we aim to build a significant relationship with Cafe El Zapoteco and like-minded roasters. 

Is an association of 180 coffee producing families from three towns in the Sierra Juarez. The Sierra Juarez, as well as being the birthplace of Benito Juarez- Mexico’s first President of indigenous origin- is a temperate mountain range to the north of Oaxaca city.

Cafe El Zapoteco is led by Romulo Chavez. Romulo has been working for several years now to establish direct relationships with buyers in order to obtain higher prices for the producers of Cafe El Zapoteco. He has also fostered a very strong communal outlook for the association and its producers.

The central point of the Cafe El Zapoteco cooperative is the town of Santo Domingo Cacalotepec. This name is composed of both Spanish and Zapotec. Cacalotepec means ‘mountain of the raven’, which you can see depicted on the bags from this producer group, as a raven with a coffee cherry in its mouth.

Most members of the association are of Zapotec heritage and speak Spanish as second language after Zapoteco. There is a very strong, communal aspect to Cafe El Zapoteco across its three towns that is deeply rooted in the historical ties of the community to the region.

Rather than employ pickers during the harvest, when a member’s coffee is ready to be picked, several neighbours will help the producer to harvest their coffee. Instead of payment, the producer whose coffee is being harvested is expected to cook lunch for everyone and in turn, to help pick the coffee of those who helped them when their coffee is ready.

Farm sizes range from 0.5 to 5 hectares but the average member has less than one hectare of coffee and produces between 100 and 150 kilos of parchment per year. The coffees are pulped and fermented, often in hand built, wooden tanks, then dried on petates, traditional woven mats.

Low production volumes and low yields are the biggest challenge facing the producers of Cafe El Zapoteco, and in Oaxaca generally. In the last decade coffee leaf rust disease has decimated production yields here and producers have little access to finance, training or support to tackle this. Likewise, coffees are usually sold to local intermediaries for a market-based price and lose all traceability and individuality.

Raw Material is working closely with Cafe El Zapoteco and other groups in Oaxaca to return higher prices and earlier payment. In time, and with the support of committed roaster partners, we aim to help tackle the issues causing these low yields and work toward increasing production, quality and ultimately the profitability and economic viability of producing coffee in these regions.