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Mexican Coffee is grown mainly in the South central
to Southern regions of the country. Mexico has a
long history of coffee production as well as its
Latin neighbors the south. Coffee from Coatepec and
Veracruz is much different from Oaxacan Plumas,
which are in turn much different from the
southernmost region of Chiapas. |
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The later is a
growing region that borders Guatemala, and you will
find similarities between those coffees. In general
you can expect a light-bodied coffee, mild but with
delicate flavors, but there are exceptions of
course. Mexico is one of the largest producers of
certified organic coffees, and because of the close
proximity, most Mexican Coffee is exported to the
U.S. |
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Coffee was
introduced into Mexico during the nineteenth century
from Jamaica. Mexican Coffee is mainly the Arabica
variety, which grows particularly well in the
Pacific coastal region of Soconusco, near the
Guatemalan border. In the early 1990s, the southern
state of Chiapas was Mexico's most important
coffee-growing area, producing some 45 percent of
the annual crop of 275,000 tons. |
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More than 2
million Mexicans grew coffee, most barely
subsisting. Seventy-five percent of Mexican Coffee
growers worked plots of fewer than two hectares.
These small cultivators produced about 30 percent of
the country's annual harvest; larger and more
efficient farms produced the rest. |
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During the 1980s,
coffee became Mexico's most valuable export crop. In
1985 coffee growers produced 4.9 million
sixty-kilogram bags, and coffee exports earned
$882US million at the unusually high world price of
$0.90US per kilogram. Thereafter output fluctuated
between 5.6 million bags and 4.4 million bags. |
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As international
coffee prices rose further, the government in 1988
encouraged coffee growers, especially in Chiapas, to
increase output and expand the area under
cultivation. It tried to increase production by
offering easy credit to coffee growers and by
converting forested land into ejidos for cultivation
by poor Mexican Coffee growers. |
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The finest grade
is "Altura," which means "high-grown." Where coffee
is concerned, higher always means better, and the
high-grown coffees of Mexico are considered very
high-quality indeed and among the finest grown in
the Americas. |
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Mexican Coffee
drinkers have a unique way of brewing their coffee,
many prefer to add a small amount of cinnamon to the
ground coffee before brewing, this adds a distinct
flavor and also reduces the acidity. |
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