Region: Oaxaca - Sierra Sur - San Pedro
Producer: Union San Pedro, small holder farmers cooperative
Variety: Mundo Novo and Pluma Hidalgo
Altitude: 1.450 – 1.900 m
Processing: washed

The coffee plants of the Union San Pedro cooperative grow under the dense canopy of the mixed forests on the Sierra Sur mountain range in southern Oaxaca. The resulting coffee has a terroir characterised by Sierra Sur’s mineral and nutrient-rich volcanic soil, the extensive cloud forests of the highlands and proximity to the Pacific Ocean.

On small plots of between one and four hectares, the cooperative’s 180 smallholders use traditional cultivation techniques and also produce honey and grow vanilla, cinnamon and cardamom. Union San Pedro grows Mundo Novo beans as well as Pluma Hidalgo beans, which were cultivated in the nearby Pluma Hidalgo region from the Typica variety. Pluma Hidalgo coffee is known for its balanced flavour profile, which combines subtle citrus acids with floral and nutty notes. The cooperative’s coffee lots are prepared for export in close collaboration with Red Beetle Coffee Lab . This Mexican coffee is characterised by a nectar-like sweetness, a velvety milk chocolate body and subtle orange notes. PASSENGER sources this coffee through Raw Material Coffee and it is part of our RAWS espresso blend.

The Union San Pedro represents around 180 coffee-producing families and is coordinated by Salomón García. Salomón is originally from Xanica, one of the eight communities of San Pedro, and helped found the association in the early 2000s. As Union San Pedro grew, Salomón and the original leadership group founded the UNTAO cooperative export company and dry mill to support their production efforts. UNTAO stands for Unión Nacional de Trabajadores Agrícolas Oaxaqueñosand this company processes our coffees in Oaxaca City. In recent years, Salomón has refocused his attention entirely on the producers of San Pedro to address some of the issues facing coffee farmers in Oaxaca today, such as low yields. Under Salomón’s leadership, the association has financed experimental plots or small farms for each producer where they can experiment with different varieties and cultivation methods that might result in better yields. The association has also established several coffee breeding stations to provide its members with high-quality seedlings, which are a real rarity for most producers here. The average smallholder in San Pedro owns between one and four hectares of land and, like most producers in Oaxaca, typically produces very small quantities of coffee. This batch includes coffee beans from seven producers who are members of three smaller associations: Los Naranjos, Tierra Blanca and Malvavisco. The beans are usually pulped by hand and fermented in wooden tanks. Yields in these regions have become dangerously low. Over the last ten years a disease known as coffee rust and a lack of financial and agricultural resources to combat it have reduced production in some regions by up to 90%. The average yield in Oaxaca is currently only 100 kg of parchment per hectare. By comparison, the average yield in Colombia is 2,400 kg per hectare. This makes coffee cultivation increasingly unprofitable and is leading to widespread migration to the urban centres of Mexico and the United States. In short, coffee production is disappearing.