Mafafas is an enigmatic town perched high in the heart of Veracruz, where the air is thin and the coffee is a testament to human resilience. The journey to this oasis of caffeine involves a pilgrimage: flying into the Veracruz airport, then braving a serpentine road that carves through the landscape for three and a half hours. It’s a path of devotion, only complicated by the seasonal tantrums of Mother Nature. Here, the farmers cling to cultivation, their plots ranging from a modest three to six hectares. These hardy souls, who once faced the annihilation of their crops by a frosty apocalypse four years ago, now nurture their youthful plants with a tender care. The coffee here is either budding or painstakingly pruned, a poignant reminder of nature's fickleness.

The microclimate of Mafafas is a capricious beast, shifting from breezy warmth to an unforgiving chill in the blink of an eye. This mercurial weather demands a dance between the farmers and their crops, where shade trees like the ice-cream bean provide solace and nutrients in the lower altitudes. Higher up, the farms shrink under the protective canopies of oak and pine. The coffee cherries, plucked with care, make their way down to Coatepec’s central processing plant. There, they are washed, fermented in concrete tanks for 48 hours, and then dried with mechanical precision.