Horsham Coffee Roaster - Mexico Mountain Water Decaf

This special decaf lot comes from GRAPOS or Grupo de Asesores de Producción Orgánica y Sustentable S.C. GRAPOS was formed in 2007 and consisted of 90 member farmers. In 2016, the group now includes 3,253 member farmers and covers an area including the microregions of Soconusco, Siltepec, Porvenir and Tapachula within Chiapas.

Coffee from GRAPOS is cultivated on approximately 5,560 hectares and has an altitude range of 900 – 1600 masl. The harvest season is from November to March. Members of GRAPOS are mainly smallholder farmers with an average of 3 hectares of land. There are multiple cffee varieties grown including Tipica, Bourbon, Caturra, Mondo Novo and Catuaí. On average the coffee trees are 10 – 20 years old and annual production is equivalent to 0.5 metric tons (MT) of green coffee. GRAPOS is certifed Fair Trade and Organic. Additionally, GRAPOS provides essential services to its members including access to finance, technical assistance and community development programs. Other economic activities of the group include mainly agricultural projects; production of banana, squash, corn, black beans, cocoa and rambutan (a tropical tree that produces fruit of the same name). Members and their families also make handmade textiles for additional sources of income.

Most decaf coffee is processed after import which significantly increases the food miles. This lot however was carefully selected at origin to be decaffeinated at origin using a mountain water process very similar to the proprietary "Swiss Water Process".