Las Chicharras

Peach & honeycomb with a silky mouth-feel & lingering aftertaste.

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Some coffees just make you feel good. It could simply be the taste but its even better when the backstory adds to the experience. Finca Las Chicharras, a coffee farm owned by social enterprise E Café Chiapas, is exactly that. After several years exporting coffee, E Café Chiapas decided not only did they need to steady their supply but also get on the ground and impact lives at a farm level. With subtle notes of peach and honeycomb, the coffee has much to give, in more than one way.

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Additional Information

This story actually starts years before Finca Las Chicharras. It starts with a vision for a school named Ichthus, which was a dream of a man named Young Yong Lee. His hope was to establish a boarding school to grow and create leaders for the country of Mexico by teaching around three principles: honesty, love and service.
In 2005, Ichthus came to life with an initial 13 children. Now, 12 years later, the school has spread to numerous building including a gymnasium, auditorium, lunch room and soccer field and is a completely tuition free boarding school to hundreds of kids.
Quick thereafter Ichthus' inception, Mr Lee realized that if he wanted the school to truly have a sustainable future he needed to create revenue streams to aid in the support of the school. Because many of the students came from families who worked in coffee, it was obvious that the coffee industry was a viable avenue forward. Couple that with his hope to better the lives of many people in the poorest state of Mexico, Chiapas, E Café Chiapas was launched.

E Café Chiapas is a faith based social enterprise with several projects on the go. They have their own dry mill and exporting license. They have two expanding farms, Las Chicharras and Las Cascadas. And, they offer micro financing to smaller producing groups and act as a selling agent to foreign markets. E Café Chiapas ‘mission’ is stong and clear:

 - To raise the overall quality and renown of Mexican Specialty Coffee

 - To be a trustworthy producers

 - To provide top quality coffee and service for its customers

 - To fight poverty by working together with indigenous coffee farmers in Chiapas and provide them with at the pay they truly deserve

This particular coffee comes from Finca Las Chicharras. Las Chicharras is the first farm which E Café Chiapas purchased and very much its testing ground for its social and agricultural ideals. Las Chicharras is a sizeable farm with over 150 hectres and at its highest point is close to 1600 meters above sea level. It employs numerous families throughout the year providing them accommodations, food & various social activities
It also recently, due the observance of the kids simply not doing anything, built a school on the farm to engage and educate.
The coffee from Las Chicharras is a mixture of varieties – Bourbon, Marcellesa, Catimore and Guacamayua. It is picked and sorted meticulously, which is clearly noticed in the cup. Regional Chiapas blends are heavy in chocolate tones but Las Chicharras has distinct peach and melon tones and finishes with a strong toffee and nougat flavour.
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Suggested Recipe

Temp: 94.5°C Basket: 20g VST

In: 21.5g Out: 44g Time: 27sec

Ratio: 1:2 TDS: 9.2% EXT Yield: 18.7%

Sourced from the Chiapas region of Mexico, Las Chicharras is produced by E Café Chiapas and brought to market by Five Senses. This lot features the Bourbon varietal, a plant type historically celebrated for its balanced sweetness and complex profile. When evaluating such coffees, enthusiasts often look for the interplay between stone fruit and sugar-browning characteristics, which can be mapped using a flavor wheel to better identify nuanced descriptors like peach, honeycomb, melon, toffee, and nougat.

While Bourbon is widely recognized for its potential for high-quality cup profiles, the specific terroir of Chiapas plays a significant role in shaping the final expression of the bean. By focusing on the inherent qualities of this classic varietal, this offering provides a clear look at the regional character of Mexican coffee production. Whether enjoyed as a pour-over or a balanced espresso, the profile highlights a sophisticated sweetness that remains a hallmark of well-cultivated Bourbon crops.