Mexico | Sierra Mazateca

The Mazateca gets its name from the presence of the indigenous group, the Mazatec, which is a Nahualt name that translates to “the deer people”. However, in their own language, Mazateco, the group is called Ha Shuta Enima, which means “those who work the hills”.

The land is found between the regions from La Cañada and the Papaloapán Valley, at the northern tip of the state of Oaxaca. As part of the Sierra Madre Sur and the Sierra Oriental, the land is surrounded by high mountains, cliffs, and hills of mainly mesophile forest, bathed by constant rains, and the intermittent presence of mist.

The Mazateca is an important indigenous region where 92% of the population speaks an indigenous language, mostly Mazateco, with a few Nahuatl and Mixtec speakers also. The locals show a connection to their ancestry through their celebrations and traditions, such as celebrations for each town patron, day of the dead, local seed sowing traditions, and many others.

The region is also one of the most lacking in health and education coverage of the country with an alarming poverty and illiteracy level. It is made up of small and isolated communities where the main economic activity is small-scale agriculture, since few people own more than a couple hectares of land. There is an important tradition of coffee growing in this region. The steep landscape makes for hard work but is also the reason for the outstanding cup quality.

Most of the producers continue the coffee production of their parents and grandparents and often the whole family works together at harvest time.

Lotecitos, aka the teeny, super tasty coffees. Raw Material wanted to make sure that these teeny but amazing volumes made it in some tangible way to the specialty market. The resulting volume isn’t big enough to be described as a whole community’s blend, nor small enough to be considered as a one off microlot. These small harvests from some of the community’s producers score 86+, and so the Lotecitos (or tiny lots) were born.

The Lotecitos are microlots in their high quality, whilst being a blend of coffees from several smallholders. Their cup score on purchase meant that high prices could be paid even for the low volume that each producer could provide.