Plot Mexico Pena Colorada Whole Bean 2.2lb / 1kg

2.2lb / 1kg Whole Bean
Notes: Juicy Blood Orange, Sweet Tropical Guava, Milk Chocolate
Region: Sierra Mazateca, Oaxaca
Producer: Pena Colorada Group
Varietal: Typica, Mundo Novo, Bourbon
Process: Washed
Elevation: 1600 - 1800 m

From Plot:

"One of our favourite Mexican coffees returns! This community lot from the Sierra Mazateca perfectly showcases the region’s complex flavour profiles. The cup offers juicy blood orange notes, beautifully balanced with sweet tropical guava and rich milk chocolate.

Story:  

The Mazateca mountain range, located north of Oaxaca city, forms much of the state’s border with Veracruz. This region is renowned for its remote location, difficult access, and steep, dramatic topography. The Mazateca is also famous for its mystical elements, boasting a strong culture of shamanism and psychoactive mushroom use that made it an unlikely centre for alternative tourism in the 1960s and ’70s.

Today, the region sees few visitors. Even in the coffee world, it’s often overlooked due to challenging conditions, remote locations, and small production volumes. Coffee yields here are exceptionally low, even by Oaxacan standards, partly due to cool temperatures. In the Mazateca, coffee is generally grown at 1,500 meters and above. At this latitude, these altitudes can experience very low temperatures, making frost damage a significant risk for producers.

However, this climate and these altitudes also contribute positively to the cup profile. Generally, coffees from the Mazateca are among the most complex and highest quality in all of Mexico.

Many producers in this region don’t speak Spanish, with Mazateco being the first language for most people. While this can make organization and coordination more challenging, the quality and potential of the coffee make the Mazateca a unique and special region.

Farms here range in size from 0.5 to 4 hectares, though most producers have less than one hectare and produce less than 100 kg of parchment coffee each year. These low yields are the primary challenge facing producers across Oaxaca, particularly in the Mazateca.

The community-led producer group at Peña Colorada consolidates their coffees to ensure an exportable volume. The cherries are pulped, often with hand pulpers, then fermented for about 48 hours, typically in wooden tanks. After fermentation, the coffee is dried on *petates*, traditional hand-woven mats.

Producer:
The Peña Colorada group is not a formal co-op or association, but rather a community-led producer group.
Raw Material are working closely with them to open up access to the specialty market for producers in the Mazateca and to provide a sustainable and profitable supply chain for their coffees. This approach offers a long-term, stable, and profitable alternative to selling to local intermediaries at market-based prices—currently the only option for many producers. Over time, this supply chain can generate capital and investment to improve yields, production volumes, and quality in the Mazateca region."