Little City + Ernesto Perez
Since 2019, we have worked closely with Ernesto Perez of Finca Fatima and APG Coffee. In addition to our featured microlots from his award-winning farm, Ernesto has helped us source some amazing coffees from other top growers in Veracruz. He also handles export and import logistics for all of our Mexican coffee offerings, making sure they arrive in Texas safely and quickly. I recently sat down with Ernesto to chat about this year’s harvest.
LC: How was this year’s harvest at Fatima, both in terms of volume and quality, and how did it compare to recent harvests?
EP: This year was a great year for Fatima in terms of production. We had a new productive section in the farm harvest for the first time. This helped to boost quality and volume with the new young generation of coffee trees. This year we produced 107 metric tons of coffee cherry compared to 65 tons the year before.
Finca Fatima
LC: In addition to your coffees from Finca Fatima, you purchase cherry from other growers to process at your APG Mill. How many growers do you work with and what was the harvest like for Coatepec, in general, this year?
EP: Yes, in APG we work with ten different single estates. We also have community projects that gather coffee from hundreds of small-scale producers in Veracruz and Puebla microregions. This year was one of a kind because of the increase in coffee prices. Great year for being a coffee producer.
LC: What new challenges did you face this year and what new successes did you find?
EP: Many long-term partnerships failed to deliver the expected contracts, and overall [the market was] hypercompetitive with additional logistical disturbances in the port.
LC: Can you talk a little about the coffees that Little City is offering this year?
This year we offered Little City the best coffees from Finca Fatima (Coatepec) and Finca La Chiripa (Xico).
LC: What’s next for Finca Fatima and APG? Any new projects that you are particularly excited about?
Next year is BIG for Finca Fatima; [it will be the] first year of Geisha production. This is personally the first coffee I planted and watched the growth process. All the steps, beginning with choosing the best genetics from Finca Garabandal. We also planted SL-34 and Ethiopian Heirloom genetics this year, from Finca El Aguila in El Salvador.
Further Reading
Click here to read our interview with Ernesto from the last harvest. Here you can find our tribute to Mario Fernandez of Finca Garabandal.
