Coffee arrived in Mexico from Cuba at the beginning of the 19th Century and was cultivated in the state of Veracruz. When the world market for cochineal dye collapsed with the advent of aniline dyes, Oaxaca looked to coffee as a possible substitute crop to replace it.
The first coffee farms were founded in the 1870’s, in the area around el Cerro de Pluma, “Feather Mountain”, in the Zapotec hill country above and beyond Pochutla.
As it turned out conditions in the Oaxacan coastal range couldn’t have been better for coffee cultivation: the perfect altitude, warm coastal breezes, forested slopes to provide the necessary shade.
Soon coffee production extended throughout the coastal range into the Chatino region extending up to Juquila. “Pluma” coffee is Mexico’s best-known denomination of export coffee. The original Pluma region escaped the devastation wrought upon the Chatino plantations by the 1997 storms. Farms were abandoned and many agricultural workers joined the flood of immigrants looking for opportunities to the north.
The economic depression in the coffee economy -- prices dropped as low as 40 cents a pound -- meant that many who persisted in coffee raising had to eliminate costly chemical fertilizers and adopt organic production methods.
However producing high quality organic beans is very labor intensive and costly in its own right. For example, only the ripe, red cherries have the potential for producing top quality coffee, but not all the cherries ripen at once, so pickers must work same trees as many as three times a season. After picking there are other meticulously executed steps in bean processing, including soaking, pulping, fermenting, rinsing, sun drying, hulling and grading.
Organic, mountain-grown Chatino coffee, known by the denomination “Santa Catarina” or “Juquila”, according to many experts, has surpassed Pluma in excellence. But how can growers get a fair price for their product and free themselves from dependance on the vagaries of world commodity markets?
Finca Las Nieves
A Coffee Plantation in the Oaxacan Cloud Forest
Eco Bungalows NOW Available
Caressed by breezes from the Pacific ocean far below, Finca las Nieves has been producing some of the finest coffee in the world since the 19th century.
Finca las Nieves, 1,000 sprawling acres of wooded hillside, creeks and towering trees, situated 4,000 feet in the Sierra cloud forest, like many old coffee farms in the Chatino region, had been fallen into neglect, abandoned because it would have cost more to harvest the beans than the price they would have fetched in the market.
Enter the management team from the Hotel Santa: They purchased the farm two years ago and began the meticulous process of rehabilitation: Clearing brush, pruning, reseeding and today, Las Nieves is once again awake, producing superb, shade-grown Altura organic coffee, while protecting its fabulous heritage of forest and fauna.
Not ony that: An intimate, comfortable lodge is being created, with all the comforts of home - - thanks to the custom designed solar power system. Three rooms are already available for visitors, who can hike the miles of trails through the woods, enjoying spectacular views, colorful butterflies, exotic birds and plant life.
You can savor the excellent coffee and learn about the entire coffee-raising process, as well as tour the nearby Chatino towns and villages.
Finca Las Nieves is a working coffee farm which offers elegant rustic accommodations amid the tranquil beauty of a pristine mountain cloud forest. The coastal mountains are ideal for the production of the highest quality, organic mountain beans, considered by experts to be among the best in the world.
What Makes a Great Coffee
• Altitude: At least 1200 meters
• Shade Growth: Forest that provide the ideal 40% shade & 60% sun
• Organic Methods: No chemicals anywhere on the property
• Natural Drying: Las Nieves uses special racks which allow air to circulate for even drying.
• Preserving Freshness: hermetical sealing of packaging to ensure a 12% humidity content
• Roasting: at temperatures high enough to caramelize the sugar content of the bean.
• Roasting to Order: A service Finca Las Nieves will offer online
