Messico - Nahua -Slow Food CC

Josias Oltehua is a young 37 year old coffee producer from the Zongolica region in the state of Veracruz.

Coffee arrived here at the end of the 18th century, even before Chiapas, despite the predominance of the culture. The product is therefore deeply rooted in the traditions, history and economy of the local communities and, in particular, for Josias' family, of Nahua origin, the production of arabica coffee (varieties Borbón, Garnica, Colombia) is the main source of sustenance.

Together with his Slow Food community “Bosque, niebla y cafè”, Josias joined the SFCC in 2021 thanks to his long collaboration and friendship with Stephany Escamilla, now international advisor of the Coffee Coalition. Currently, three men and six women work in cultivation, while four children learn from their parents in the hope that as adults they will not abandon the land to seek their fortune in the United States, as so many have done and are doing from rural areas across the country.

The Oltehua family manages everything on site: from sowing to cultivation, to the harvest in 4 stages (depending on the degree of ripeness of the coffee, harvested from the plant only when it is ready), to washing, and drying, which varies depending on the different types of process. In the last period Josias has been trying his hand at roasting and grinding coffee in his finca, to spread the consumption of local coffee among the inhabitants of nearby cities: too often in places of coffee production, what is consumed by the population is often a conventional product of poor quality, because the best one is exported.