Mexican farmer Mario Perez runs a demo farm in the Sierra Sur of Oaxaca where he provides farmer training and education as well as a testing ground for varieties and experimental processing. Normally, Mario’s coffee is blended into the Union San Pedro blend (which Exemplar have been roasting for the past four years) but recently his lots have been kept separate as the quality has improved and he’s employed a more advanced processing style.

The flavour profile of this lot is incredibly distinctive, with an extended fermentation washed process providing a citrus heavy cup with a syrupy mouthfeel.

The coffee industry in Oaxaca is in crisis, blighted by coffee rust disease and poverty. Work here is focused on increasing yields for smallholder farmers in rural communities, so securing community lots through co-ops like Union San Pedro and experimenting with higher yielding and more disease resistant varieties is vital to the survival of coffee growing communities here.