Less than an hour’s drive from San Cristobal de Las Casas, near Mexico’s 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.

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, where he employs the sons and daughters of some of the producers he works with—when they return to their parents’ farms, they’ll be better informed about the extension of the coffee chain, and able to inform larger decisions about production.
As of 2010, Mexico was the world’s largest producer of certified organic coffee by volume in the world, and that doesn’t factor in the large amount of coffee grown by producers who lack certification due to its cost, but adhere to organic production practices nonetheless. All the producers Salazar works with grow organic coffee.
Pedro Vázquez 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 and the other as a barista. His wife oversees the Vázquez farm’s harvest, while their other three daughters live on the farm.
The Vázquez farm used to grow sugar cane, but 30 years ago was converted to coffee production. The Vázquez 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 Vázquez 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.
Pedro Vázquez is sometimes more a philosopher than a farmer—he believes producing organic coffees is better not only for the soil but also for the soul. He says every time someone drinks a sip of his family’s coffee, he is sharing a drop of life with them, because well-harvested coffee is life.