Toca, espresso from Mexico
Toca - espresso from Mexico
A neo-classic espresso with notes of rock candy and coconut. Structured with a mild acidity and balanced with a fat body. For an uncomplicated, sophisticated espresso and a caramel cappuccino. This coffee comes from our Tlapajti project, in which we support a cooperative in Veracruz to obtain organic certification.
Toca - green coffee information
Origin of the beans: Ixpaluca, Sierra de Zongolica, Veracruz, Mexico.
Producers: Citlatl Cafen Cooperative
Varieties: Guernica, Typica, Bourbon, Catimores. 100% Arabica.
Post-harvest process: pulped, fermented with water, washed
All of our coffees are sold as whole beans
Arrived at the roastery: August 2022
This is how we would prepare the Toca
Why does coffee taste the way it does?
The coffees from the Zongolica region have a medium to high body. The area around the community of Ixpaluca, where the producers live, is often drowned in the rain clouds that are pushed inland from the Atlantic. It is often cool and the coffees mature slowly. This slow growth gives the coffee its complexity, a citrusy, delicate acidity and a high basic sweetness.
Tell me more about Toca
The official name of the project in Mexico itself is " Tlapajti " - which means "those who heal" in one of the indigenous Nahuátl languages spoken in the project region. The name came from a producer from the community herself. She said that they are now healing Mother Earth and that is why they are "Tlapajti". In spring 2022 we launched the Tlapajti project in Mexico with Ensambles Cafés Mexicanos. First, members of the Ixpaluca community in eastern Mexico founded their own cooperative: Citatl Cafen. In the next few years, the current conventional agriculture will be converted to organic and then to biodynamic agriculture. Ultimately, producers should become independent of external inputs - the production of their own organic fertilizer and the focus on strong agroforestry are the focus.
Why do we support the Citlatl Cafen cooperative?
We see our task as supporting coffee producers towards a natural farming method if they are open to it. This is the community in Ixpaluca - in the blog we describe exactly how strong the connection to Mother Earth is. Offerings are buried in the ground to give her food back. The spiritual culture of the Náhuatl community also determines daily life, which we can get to know better little by little.
How do we roast this coffee?
As a 30kg batch in our roaster, we are using the drum to its full capacity. With a roasting time of 15 minutes, the coffee is one of our longest roasts. This way we emphasize the more classic notes such as rock candy. The development time is 15%. We start with a soak, so leave the gas at minimum for 1 minute before we go to 70% energy. Then we let the coffee and the roaster work themselves and only intervene again after 10 minutes and gradually lower the gas.