fbpx

August Featured Coffee

MichizaFast Facts
Location: Oaxaca, Mexico
Altitude: 900-1800 meters
Varietal: Arabica – Typica, Caturra
Certifications: Organic; FLO; SPP
Organization: Founded in 1985
Comprised of 1030 members

michiza-gallery-2MICHIZA began as a small organization linking coffee producers from several ethnic groups across the state of Oaxaca. The name MICHIZA is an abbreviation of these five indigenous groups: Mixtecos, Chinantecos, Chatinos, Cuicatecos and Zapotecos. Today MICHIZA brings together some 1030 small-scale, organic coffee producers, working between one and six hectares of land, in six separate regions and 43 local communities.

The cooperative was created in the spirit of empowering local farmers; supporting their traditional forms of self-government, and connecting their members directly to better, organic and fair trade coffee markets. Initially, MICHIZA coffee was sold only to local markets, often to the intermediaries who were notorious in the region for taking advantage of individual farmers with no alternative market options. But in 1989, the organization obtained legal status under the name Yeni Navan (New Dawn in the Zapoteco language) opening the doors to exporting internationally to North America and Europe.

img_1401MICHIZA offers on-going, technical support to its members in order to improve their production capacity in organic agriculture and to oversee best practices in coffee quality controls. They strive to enhance the quality of life for their member families and their communities by promoting organic agricultural, constructing more equitable practices with their trading partners, and supporting human development based upon solid intellectual, moral and social values.

Enjoy this coffee that is full bodied with soft acidity, a nutty aroma and notes of complex vanilla, sweet milk chocolate and honey!

 

 

Skip to content