Coffee Farms (Coatepec and Xico)

The coffee-growing villages of Coatepec and Xico, both within thirty minutes of Xalapa, offer the best coffee farm visits in Mexico. Coatepec in particular is known as the "coffee capital of Mexico" — a small colonial town surrounded by shade-grown arabica plantations, with a central market where the local coffee is sold and consumed at every café and juice stand. Several farms offer tours that cover the full cycle from cherry to cup, running through the harvest months of October to February.

Xico, a few kilometres from Coatepec, is a more tourist-oriented village with good restaurants serving the local mole and a famous waterfall (Cascada de Texolo) reached by a short walk through the coffee fields. The combination of Coatepec and Xico makes a full day out from Xalapa, easily arranged independently by taxi or colectivo. The coffee you drink along the way — brewed in clay pots with cinnamon, served at roadside stands — is among the best in the country.

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A story
The Coatepec-Xalapa highland produces arabica coffee that routinely wins international specialty coffee competitions. The climate is nearly identical to the Colombian highlands where the world's most prized arabica grows: altitude, mist, volcanic soil, and shade trees. The coffee from these hillsides has been exported to Europe and Japan since the 19th century. Locally it is served in ways that would horrify specialty coffee devotees — olla-brewed with cinnamon and brown sugar — and it is absolutely correct.