About context

In the fertile lands of Los Altos de Chiapas, Sakubel is born, a coffee that pays tribute to each sunrise and the tireless spirit of the Tseltal coffee growers, who daily take on the challenge of taking care of their crops, plowing the land, and monitoring their territories.

Last year we discovered Los Altos de Chiapas, an origin inhabited mostly by Tseltal indigenous communities, which enjoys a good reputation in the specialty coffee industry, because it has heights that favor plantations and traditional varieties are still cultivated, like Typica and Bourbon, which offer complex attributes in the cup.

The arrival of coffee to the region dates back more than a century when the indigenous people of Los Altos, who worked during harvest seasons in Soconusco (Southern Chiapas, bordering Guatemala), adapted the seeds to their own gardens. Peasants planted coffee in small areas of their family gardens, and then it was transplanted to larger plots.

Additionally, families in the Chiapas Highlands also raise animals, birds, and cattle, but predominantly sheep. Tsotzil sheep farming is a female activity, and the flocks are generally small and managed in close relationship with agricultural activity. Its objectives are the production of wool to make clothing and obtaining manure to fertilize agricultural plots.

The agriculture of Los Altos is special because it still preserves traditional practices, such as polycultures, where coffee trees receive shade and protection from other tree species. These ancestral systems show greater resilience to diseases such as rust, promote the conservation of biodiversity, and offer environmental services that economically support the indigenous people who guard agroecological ecosystems.

Problematics

Los Altos of Chiapas is a fertile region for many agricultural products, but it is also fertile for countless problems that make the coffee business precarious; such as the shortage and contamination of water resources, difficult road access, the lack of a prosperous market for coffee, labor migration, poor management of coffee plantations, among others.

In some areas of Chiapas, deforestation has increased due to the advance and development of agribusiness, like livestock, oil palm, and banana monocultures. Additionally, the loss of forests has reduced the capacity for water infiltration, triggering water supply problems in certain regions of Chiapas.

Since 2012, coffee plantations have been suffering more acutely from the impact of rust. Plantations located at low altitudes are the most vulnerable to this disease, which is why producers are growing more resistant varieties.

Ensambles connect with Los Altos

Given the reputation of this region for the quality of its coffee, the Assemblage Origination team began exploring this territory in mid-2022.

In Los Altos of Chiapas, we are leading fieldwork 365 days a year. Our field technicians are in charge of organizing and training coffee growers in agronomic practices, harvest processes, post-harvest, and more environmentally responsible production systems. All this to enhance the attributes of the grain, position the region in the specialty niche, increase the quality of life of families, and obtain an advantage in times of climate change.

This work on the ground allowed our relationships in Chiapas to strengthen. During the 2022 – 2023 harvest season, we managed to link nearly 64 producers to national and international markets, who live in nine indigenous communities and communicate in the Tseltal language.

“The work of the indigenous people of Los Altos transcends beyond grain; it is a rescue of traditions, values, customs, and biodiversity at risk of extinction. For this reason, we are committed to being watchers and companions in this pilgrimage of changes and resistance.”