We select Mountain Rescue from seasonal crop to deliver a classic everyday filter coffee.
Our latest iteration is grown grown in the hills surrounding San Mateo Yoloxochitlán in the remote Sierra Mazateca region of Oaxaca, Mexico.
In the cup it is incredibly clean, sweet and subtly complex, with notes of clementine, honeycomb and panna cotta.
Tom has long had an obsession with Oaxaca as one of the world’s centres of food biodiversity. The Sierra Mazateca is a mountain range located to the north of Oaxaca City. The region is very remote, hard to access, and is marked by its steep and dramatic topography. It takes its name from the indigenous Mazatec, a Nahualt name that translates as “the deer people”. In their own language, however, the Mazatec refer to themselves as Ha shuta Enima, which means “those who work the hills”.
The Mazateca is also known for its more mystic elements, with a strong culture of shamanism and psychoactive mushroom use. It became an unlikely centre for alternative tourism in the 1960s and 70s after a local healer called María Sabina allowed Westerners to participate in the velada healing ritual.
Today the region is rarely visited, and even in the coffee world it is often neglected due to its remote location, challenging conditions, and small production. Even by Oaxaca’s standards, production yields are tiny, in part due to the cool temperatures. Coffee is generally grown at 1,500 MASL and above, and at this latitude, these altitudes experience very low temperatures making frost damage a real issue for producers.
On the other hand, the climate and altitude contribute positively to the cup profile, and in general, coffees from the Mazateca are amongst the most complex and high quality in all of Mexico.
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The Lake District Search & Mountain Rescue Association (LDSAMRA) provides a vital service helping injured and stricken hikers to safety from some of the most remote and precarious places in the country. The vast majority of incidents are safely resolved, but there are inevitably a number of fatalities, and without the help of LDSAMRA this number would be much higher.
In order to carry out their work LDSAMRA rely on a team of brave and highly trained volunteers. We are friends with a number of them so are well aware of the great work that they do, and the importance of donations to provide them with the kit necessary to do their job safely and effectively.
For every kilo of Mountain Rescue we sell, we donate £1 to LDSAMRA.
