Mexico Oaxaca Gueza

The term “Gueza” derives from the Mixteca language and roughly translates to “cooperative and voluntary work shared as a group.” The traditional practice gathers people within a region and brings them together with a common goal at hand, often around shared work on the coffee farms and helping neighbors during harvest. This small coffee lot is made up of four communities in the Sierra Norte Region of Oaxaca: Juquila Vijanos, Atitlán Mixe, Grupo Nuyoo and Villa Alta. We were introduced to these small communities through our export partner Azahar, which we visited last year. They have been developing relationships in the remote communities and bringing their extraordinary coffees to the forefront. The smallholder farmers tend to one hectares of land growing coffee, vegetables and other crops. Ripe cherries are selectively picked and fermented for 14-24 hours and patio dried for six days before they are fully washed.