Mexico Antonio Zaragoza

Description

More About The Coffee

Sharik Torres and his sister Hanniah founded Puhuac de Méndez for two seemingly straightforward reasons: to showcase the efforts of small-scale specialty producers in northern Puebla, and to generate much-needed additional income in doing so. Before founding the cooperative, Sharik had been a teacher, a veterinarian, and even a zoo technician—certainly far cries from coffee, but recognizing this region's ascending quality in spite of its near-total lack of market access, he and his sister established a lightweight but effective operation. They cup, classify, and market their members' coffees. Whether distant family, friends, or neighbors, most of their members' parcels are less than a hectare in size, yielding 2 - 10 bags per year. All processing is done at home, meaning the quality and longevity of infrastructure varies quite a bit from farm to farm. With the evaporation of USAID funding, it's challenging to invest meaningfully in equipment, training, or central processing—for now, we at Crop to Cup are instead focusing on the support of agricultural extension officers. In spite of all this, the coffees continue to sing, and we remain committed to sustaining the Good Coffee Program to ensure that these producers have real, transparent motivation to move forward. Antonio and Enrique Zaragoza each have small parcels in the town of Tepetzintla, Puebla, about 30 minutes apart from one another by foot. Each produces their washed coffee with a 24 - 36 hour cherry fermentation in sacks before pulping,
as well as additional fermentation after pulping, and a mixture of patio and temperature-stable cylindrical dryers.