{"id":763,"date":"2018-06-22T04:00:41","date_gmt":"2018-06-22T14:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thecurbkaimuki.com\/2018\/06\/22\/in-chiapas-casa-cafeologo-is-a-coffee-hotel-for-green-buyers\/"},"modified":"2018-07-30T15:19:05","modified_gmt":"2018-07-31T01:19:05","slug":"in-chiapas-casa-cafeologo-is-a-coffee-hotel-for-green-buyers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecurbkaimuki.com\/2018\/06\/22\/in-chiapas-casa-cafeologo-is-a-coffee-hotel-for-green-buyers\/","title":{"rendered":"In Chiapas, Casa Cafe\u00f2logo Is A Coffee Hotel For Green Buyers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/span><\/p>\n

Less than an hour\u2019s drive from San Cristobal de Las Casas, near Mexico\u2019s southern border with Guatemala, is Los Altos de Chiapas. San Cristobal, a small, romantic town, is beloved by tourists to the greater Chiapas region for its food as much as the colors of its buildings, but Jesus Salazar loves it for a different reason. <\/span><\/p>\n

Salazar, who runs coffee hotel Casa\u00a0Cafe\u00f2logo<\/span><\/a>, is here for the weather, altitude, and soil.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Los Altos de Chiapas began producing coffee only 70 years ago, which, relatively speaking, makes the growing region relatively young. Consequentially, the producers here are open to experimentation, and Salazar works with 16 different producers to this end to improve their quality. He teaches picking techniques, processing methods, roasting, and cupping. Some of his projects include cherry picking instruction, process experimentation, roasting, and cupping. In San Cristobal, Salazar owns and operates a roastery and cafe called Carajillo<\/span><\/a>, where he employs the sons and daughters of some of the producers he works with\u2014when they return to their parents\u2019 farms, they\u2019ll be better informed about the extension of the coffee chain, and able to inform larger decisions about production.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

As of 2010, Mexico was the world\u2019s largest producer of certified organic coffee by volume in the world, and that doesn\u2019t factor in the large amount of coffee grown by producers who lack certification due to its cost, but adhere to organic production practices nonetheless.\u00a0<\/span>All the producers Salazar works with grow organic coffee. <\/span><\/p>\n

Pedro V\u00e1zquez is one such producer, with his whole family involved in the farm. Two of his daughters work with Salazar at Carajillo, one as a roaster and cupper in-training\u00a0<\/span>and the other as a barista. His wife oversees the V\u00e1zquez farm\u2019s harvest, while their other three daughters live on the farm. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Ann and Pedro\u00a0V\u00e1zquez<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

The V\u00e1zquez\u00a0<\/span>farm used to grow sugar cane, but 30 years ago was converted to coffee production. The V\u00e1zquez family now grows Bourbon and Typica varieties, and has survived an outbreak of Coffee Leaf Rust, when two-thirds of their crop was destroyed. The V\u00e1zquez family hopes to produce Pacamara and Marago coffees in the future, and are now laying the groundwork for increased production quality by taking care of their soil and planting shade trees. <\/span><\/p>\n

Pedro V\u00e1zquez is sometimes more a philosopher than a farmer\u2014he believes producing organic coffees is better not only for the soil but also for the soul. He says\u00a0every time someone drinks a sip of his family\u2019s coffee, he is sharing a drop of life with them, because well-harvested coffee is life. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Inez V\u00e1zquez pulls a shot in Cafe\u00f2logo’s cafe<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The use of chemicals, V\u00e1zquez thinks, will destroy his soil, which he simply won\u2019t tolerate\u2014he hopes one day to leave the farm to his family. Although the farms Salazar works with are too small to compete in the Cup of Excellence competition, a coffee from Chiapas\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>Finca Los Azahares won fourth place in Mexico\u2019s competition, winning a presidential award, and so the quality of the region is not without recognition.<\/span><\/p>\n

To promote the development in Los Altos de Chiapas, Salazar opened\u00a0Cafe\u00f2logo\u00a0<\/span>in the city center of San Crist\u00f3bal explicitly for the purpose of hosting green coffee buyers. Each bedroom is kitted out with a Kalita set<\/span><\/a> and specialty coffee, and guests have access to a cupping and roasting lab, a barista training center, and a beautiful cafe, which itself features a one-group Slayer<\/span><\/a> and the coffees of producers Salazar is partnered with.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Thanks in part to Salazar and the producers he represents, Chiapas may be coming into its golden years as a production region. If his hotel is good enough for Tim Wendelboe<\/span><\/a>, who stayed there while visiting Chiapas on behalf of Noma Mexico<\/span><\/a>, it\u2019s good enough for the coffee lover\u00a0in all of us\u2014and is all the more reason to schedule a visit. <\/span><\/p>\n

Ximena Rubio is a coffee professional based in Mexico City. Read more Ximena Rubio on Sprudge<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The post In Chiapas, Casa Cafe\u00f2logo Is A Coffee Hotel For Green Buyers<\/a> appeared first on Sprudge<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Source: Coffee News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Less than an hour\u2019s drive from San Cristobal de Las Casas, near Mexico\u2019s southern border with Guatemala, is Los Altos de Chiapas. San Cristobal, a small, romantic town, is beloved…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[39,41],"tags":[63,45,65,47,61,49,59,67,55,57],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecurbkaimuki.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecurbkaimuki.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecurbkaimuki.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecurbkaimuki.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecurbkaimuki.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=763"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thecurbkaimuki.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":779,"href":"https:\/\/thecurbkaimuki.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763\/revisions\/779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecurbkaimuki.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecurbkaimuki.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecurbkaimuki.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}