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Agua Iglesia

Rich soft fruit and creamy body

A rich, creamy and soft fruit-driven lot, produced by a group of farmers in Oaxaca's Sierra Mazateca mountain range.

A washed lot driven by soft fruit notes, with strawberry and grape balanced by a deep sweetness and a creamy body.

Producer
Agua Iglesia Farmers
Coffee expression
A sweet & balanced coffee

Regular price: $22.00
incl. vat/tax
Sale price: $22.00
incl. vat/tax
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Oaxaca

Sierra Mazateca

Agua Iglesia is a small village nestled high in the slopes of the Sierra Mazateca, in the rural north of Oaxaca. The indigenous Mazatec people make up the majority of the population here, in this remarkably remote and inaccessible part of the country. The farmers here face many challenges. Due to high altitudes, the Sierra Mazateca is very cold at night, and together with the dense native forest cover, this leads to very low yields. Much of the plant stock throughout the region is very old, mainly of Typica and Bourbon varietals, compounding the problem.

"Yields in the Sierra Mazateca are often as low as 100 kg per hectare.."

Many of these problems stem from the farmers’ lack of access to market and to reliable agronomic advice. Many here speak only the ancient Mazatec language, and don’t understand Spanish, so access to outside influence can only take place through experienced translators. Leaf rust has also been a huge problem here, with old trees of traditional varietals particularly susceptible, and access to advice on dealing with the disease difficult to come by. All of this means that yields in the Sierra Mazateca are often as low as 100 kg per hectare, compared to the Colombian standard of 2400 kg.

Washed Typica & Bourbon

Raw Material

The other side is that many of these factors lead to very high quality. Shade-grown, high altitude, traditional varietals. The cool temperatures here also lead to long and slow fermentations, softening the cup profile of washed lots like this one. This lot has been compiled by Felipe Palacios, a producer and former school teacher that coordinates the local producer forum in the area around Agua Iglesia. Coffee is processed at the individual farms, all using long fermentation washed processes, and then cupped and selected by Felipe and the team from Raw Material coffee.

Raw Material are investing heavily in these producers together with Felipe, giving them better access to market, to agronomic advice, and to methods of increasing yields, such as new seedlings. This lot was selected from lots with a richly sweet and soft fruit-driven profile, with notes of strawberry and grape balanced by a brown sugar sweetness and a creamy body.

Technical Data

Producer
Agua Iglesia Farmers
Region
Oaxaca
Altitude
1600 masl
Varietal
Typica, Bourbon
Process
Washed
Harvest
July 2022

Washed Process

The washed process involves completely removing both the cherry and the mucilage from the outside of the parchment with the use of friction, fermentation and water. After being harvested, the coffee cherry is then sliced open by either a metal or a sharp plastic blade.

The two seeds (also known as beans) are pushed out of the cherry, which leaves the seed with mucilage as their outermost layer. It is essential in the washed process that all mucilage is removed from the seed which leaves only the flavour that developed in the cell structure of the seed prior to processing.