Mexico Miguel Arellanes Nº 227

Miguel Arellanes produces coffee in the Sierra Sur region of Oaxaca. His coffee production compromises of different processing methods and qualities, with the bulk of his coffee being washed and forming part of the ‘Independent Producers of the Sierra Sur’ lots. This lot, however, is processed using the natural method, which is much less common in Mexico. The result is an intensely sweet cup profile with notes of stone fruit and caramelised sugar. Having heard about a neighbouring coffee project that sought to increase quality and payments to producers – Miguel got in touch with the project founders – who we are proud to say are a sourcing partner of Rave, Raw Material! With their help, Miguel has been able to access routes to market that have seen him receive upfront payments well above the domestic market rate, as well as a supplementary second payment based on quality. This totals around 10 times what he would’ve earnt selling to local middlemen. This year, Miguel took the huge risk to process all of his coffee using the natural process. He took the coffee from the humid high altitudes of the farm down to the neighbouring town, where the air is dryer and better suited to natural drying. After 2 days of resting as picked cherry, the fruit it laid out to dry in the sun, and then completes the remainder of the drying under 100% shade cover.