Notes: Grapefruit, plum, milk chocolate
Country: Mexico
Region: Chiapas
Varietal: Marsellesa, Catuai, Bourbon
Process: Washed
Altitude: 900 - 1,900 MASL
Description: Finca Las Cascadas, named for the many waterfalls on the finca, was previously called Finca Belgica, but when E-Cafe took it over they planned not only to improve the name, but the coffee quality as well. Not only is E-Cafe producing incredible coffee on this farm, they’ve taken initiative to be one of the few people in Mexico producing naturals. E-Cafe had only produced washed coffees until 2018, when a specialty coffee importer from Taiwan requested a natural lot from Finca Las Cascadas. The forward thinking doesn’t stop at coffee processing with E-Cafe; they have social development projects going on for the people who work for them, and the people who lives in their surrounding areas. Their main operations outside of coffee are the Icathus School, a boarding school for underprivileged children, affordable financing offered to producers, and working with community and government leaders to improve infrastructure, education, and health. These operations are funded by the government and the sales of their coffee.
After handpicking ripe fruit, this lot is pulped and sent to fermentation tanks for up to 36 hours and then washed clean of mucilage. The coffee goes through destoning after drying to ensure that no foreign matter makes it through. After hulling, the green coffee is color sorted and graded by size to keep the lot uniform visually and in quality.