Preview 2023
From Las Chicharras / Mexico
Today we are pleased to give you again a perspective on the upcoming coffee year 2023 from the perspective of our producers. We‘ve asked E-cafe Chiapas in Mexico, one of our partners of your favorite coffee from Mexico what the situation looks like at their farm/origin. How the harvest turned out or will turn out, what the weather conditions have been or currently are, and what the actual shipping situation looks like. We also wanted to know about new coffees or projects we can look forward to this year...
In the following you can therefore get a brief insight, and what awaits us in 2023. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
We asked E-cafe Chiapas / Las Chicharras farm about the outlook for 2023:
E-cafe's focus this year will be on optimizing cup profiles, therefore changes have been and will be made in the post-harvest process. Various solutions have already been implemented at the wet mill in order to process the coffee even more sustainably and economically: Less water and energy are now needed for the processing. This could be accomplished by the implementation of an alternative solution for the float separation. Water free pulping machines were installed and a water recirculation system was designed. A technology requiring less water and energy consumption was also implemented to remove the mucilage from the coffee. A system to bring the parchment coffee to the yard to reduce labor was also designed to reduce labor at the farm.
On the other hand e-cafe is processing small quantities of coffee under strict fermentation control. With great effort, the coffee cherries are first pre-sorted, stored in airtight containers and fermented, then slowly dried in Patio for aprox. 15 days.The result is a coffee with more sweetness and a fine acidity, characterized by floral notes of jasmine and chamomile, and with the characteristic chocolaty aftertaste of Mexican coffee.
In 2023, in addition to climate change, which particularly affects the uneven ripening of coffee cherries, economic problems also pose challenges. The harvest is difficult due to the more uneven harvesting conditions and the sharp decrease in workers due to migration to the United States has caused great disadvantages to the management of the farm. Already last year 2022 farm labor was very limited due to migration problems to the United States and immigration restrictions at the border between Mexico and Guatemala. However, the average number of children attending school in 2022 in Las Chicharras was higher than in previous years. On average, 15 children attended school per day. Parents are now more motivated to send their children to school because of the long-term developments that pay off through study. Full of proud E-cafe reports about the great development of the local teacher. The teacher Noema has gained a lot of experience in the last few years and her teaching plans have become more effective, we are very proud of her. The adult education programs have been a success. More and more people are joining the reading and writing workshops in the afternoons. Sometimes personal hygiene workshops are held in order to improve the cleanliness of the dormitories on the farm.
The current main harvest period started in early January, and the ripening of coffee cherries due to weather conditions has been delayed this year due to climate change. From March onwards, the coffee is expected to be shipped again.
Regarding the financial contribution, $106,425 MXN was invested between November 2021 and October 2022. The 75% was destined to cover the teacher´s monthly salary and the rest for the purchase of school supplies and snacks. We greatly appreciate the support of Rehm Coffee, without you this would not be possible."
Thank you so much for your report E-cafe! We are curious to see what furthrt news there will be to report from Las Chicharras farm this year...
