Part of the exclusive taste of coffee lies in its rich history. So we’d like to tell you about Finca Fatima, where our latest Mexican gem comes from.
Ernesto Pérez Orrea’s family has a rich history that goes hand in hand with the history of Mexican coffee. His great-grandfather, Antonio Pérez Galván, was employed as a coffee merchant by the Arbuckle brothers in the late 19th century, mainly because he spoke English and Spanish. Antonio had one daughter, Genoveva, who married Antonio Orrea. Together they founded Orea Machines, a company responsible for helping to industrialize the Mexican coffee industry in the 1950s. The two of them acquired Finca Fatima in the 1970s and later bequeathed it to their children – Ernesto and his sister Livet.
After graduating from high school, Ernesto studied in the US, where he was inspired by the growing popularity of specialty coffee in Texas. Seeing the opportunity to develop the family business, he decided to focus his time abroad to learn as much as he could about specialty coffee. Through the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI), he became a licensed Q Grader, then traveled to El Salvador to earn his second level Q Processing certification at Cuatro M Cafes. He then went to Brazil to learn more about the equipment needed to process specialty coffee, which he wanted to implement in the plantation and thus improve efficiency by reducing water consumption.
Ernesto returned to Veracruz in 2018 to manage the family coffee processing factory, which offers processing and export services not only to Finca Fatima, but also to 85 other farming families in Coatepec. Just one year after returning and focusing on growing specialty coffee, Finca Fatima has been awarded as a top 10 finalist at Mexico’s Cup of Excellence 2019, and more accolades are surely on the horizon for this innovative young grower.
The coffee at Finca Fatima matures for around 8 months, after which the coffee cherries are carefully picked by hand before being transported and roasted. The drying process of the coffee beans takes place on special raised beds for a period of 15 to 30 days, alternating between direct sunlight and shade.
During this year’s Cup Of Excellence competition in Mexico, our tireless coffee scout Yordan Dubov met Ernesto and visited his farm. There he learns the whole history of the family and Ernesto’s desire to move towards sustainable development of the region and the plantation.
The coffee that Yordan Dubov tasted there turned out to be processed through carbonic maceration – a method used by winemakers. This type of fermentation gives the coffee beans a fruity richness. Yordan Dubov negotiates with Ernesto and 60 kg leaves for Bulgaria, together with another treasure from the three-time winner of the Cup Of Excellence – Mexico – the Santa Cruz plantation – Geisha coffee, processed through a copper processing process. And to these two wonderful coffees we add our winner in the competition – Mexico Apipias coffee.
Get it now – Mexico Fatima – the incredible combination of flavors: green apple, watermelon and peach that open our senses and transport us to the bright sound of summer, sun and fiesta.
