Bella Vista Mayan Harvest Women's Group, Mexico

In September 2025, I had the honor of visiting Bella Vista, the remote mountain community in Chiapas where our Mayan Harvest coffees are produced. Bella Vista Mayan Harvest’s Café de Mujeres is sourced from 168 family-owned farms located throughout the municipality, including the farms of the women who contribute to the Mayan Harvest Women’s Group Lot.

Getting there took nearly five hours by car from Tapachula, through dense fog, beautiful mountain roads, mudslides, and a route carefully navigated around areas affected by cartel activity. When we finally arrived, I was reminded of the small town my dad is from in Nayarit. The warmth and hospitality were unmistakably Mexican.

Angie Ralón, who manages logistics and community relationships in Bella Vista, helped gather several of the women who contribute to the lot. I brewed their coffee for them, shared our story, and told them how much our customers love their work. Then I asked a simple question: How can we be better partners to you?

Their answer was simple: Keep buying our coffee. And pay as much as you can.

It’s something roasters hear from producers again and again—the desire for coffee to be valued for what it truly is: not simply a commodity, but the result of their land, labor, skill, and years of dedication. Of course this is a deep value of ours too and thanks to you, we get to act on this value. 

These women are proud of what they produce, and they should be. With just one harvest each year, the income they earn from coffee has to sustain their families throughout the year. Their work is part of a long tradition in Bella Vista: Rosalba Cifuentes Tovia’s family, for example, has been growing coffee there for more than a century. Raised in the community, Rosalba has dedicated herself to supporting small-scale producers and helping strengthen the future of coffee in the region.

She works especially closely with these female producers, promoting their coffees, improving quality, and helping them move past the gender inequity that has long shaped the region’s coffee industry. Thanks to her dedication, Mayan Harvest coffees get better and better every year.

This is our sixth year purchasing from Mayan Harvest, and the fifth time we’ve offered coffee from the Mayan Harvest Women’s Group. This year, we were able to increase our volume, but the women’s answer will stay with me forever: we can continue to do more.

For us, buying this coffee is about more than bringing home something delicious. It’s about creating a relationship where the women who grow it can see their work valued, their coffee reaching people far beyond Bella Vista, and coffee helping provide the life they want to build.

In the cup, we taste cinnamon sugar, apple cider, and milk chocolate. We think this coffee is a shining example of the beauty Mexican coffees have to offer, and we hope you love it as much as we do.

We’re honored to share their coffee with you.

 

*If you would like this coffee ground, please specify brew method in comments.

The Bella Vista Mayan Harvest Women's Group represents a collaborative effort from the Chiapas region of Mexico. Produced by the Mayan Harvest Women's Group, this coffee is brought to market by Little Waves Coffee Roasters. The profile features distinct notes of cinnamon sugar, apple cider, and milk chocolate, offering a comforting and balanced cup.

When evaluating coffees with these specific flavor characteristics, it is often helpful to reference the flavor wheel to better identify the nuances between spice-forward aromatics and sweet, cocoa-based finishes. While every harvest varies, Mexican coffees from Chiapas are frequently recognized for their approachable sweetness and reliable body. This particular lot highlights the dedication of the women producers in the region, showcasing a clean, classic profile that bridges the gap between orchard-fruit acidity and the rich, sugary depth of milk chocolate. It serves as an excellent example of the high-quality output currently emerging from this storied coffee-growing landscape.