Most Mexican coffees are destined for blends. There’s a stigma that they are bland and neutral. Intelligentsia has been working with Mexican co-ops to develop really beautiful coffees.
We’re pouring the La Perla de Oaxaca, and we’re really loving it. It’s from Oaxaca, way down in Southern Mexico. I have a Oaxacan cookbook, and sometimes I look through it and dream about the hundreds of mole sauces and varieties of mescal they have. And now I can dream about coffee too!
A little more about this coffee. It’s single origin (no blends), Direct Trade (meaning the farmer is getting at least 25 percent more for their beans than the “Fair Trade” price), and “in season,” which means the coffee arrived at the roastery within 9 months of being harvested. I think it’s really delicious: sort of nutty, a little tart, with a really good sweet finish.