The Taste of Mexico Box

Two Veracruz Coffees — 7.1 oz Each

Mexico Fatima — 7.1 oz (200.8 g). The everyday sophisticate: milk chocolate, toffee, and pear over a velvety structure. Gentle fruit sweetness meets chocolate richness in a cup that works morning after morning while still rewarding attention — the box's natural starting point.

Mexico La Perla — 7.1 oz (200.8 g). The dessert course: cherry and layered chocolate over a creamy, ice-cream-like sweetness, with a long, indulgent finish. La Perla is the young Veracruz farm whose lot took first place at the 2024 Mexico Cup of Excellence — a remarkable result for trees only planted in 2021.

Both coffees are 100% Arabica produced by Ernesto Perez, whose three Cup of Excellence titles anchor Veracruz's rise in international specialty coffee.

Who This Box Is For

Give it to the drinker whose mental map of coffee skips from Colombia straight to Ethiopia — Mexican specialty coffee will be genuinely new to them, and the award-winning producer story makes the introduction land with authority.

The profile split makes it dependable when you don't know a recipient's taste: Fatima's chocolate-toffee balance suits milk-drink and espresso habits, while La Perla's brighter dessert profile rewards pour-over drinkers. There's no wrong palate for this pairing.

It's also a natural for anyone who follows coffee competitions — owning the 2024 Cup of Excellence winner's farm-mate lot is the specialty equivalent of a signed first edition. Collectors ready for the deep end should look at the same producer's rare Mexico Fatima Geisha.

Did You Know

• Cup of Excellence is coffee's most consequential competition. National juries and international cuppers score a country's best submitted lots through multiple blind rounds; winning lots are then sold at global auction, where prices can transform a farm's finances overnight. Three titles — Ernesto Perez's record — is a career's worth of proof. The auction mechanics behind those prices are worth understanding — how coffee is traded worldwide walks through them.

• A farm planted in 2021 winning in 2024 is nearly unheard of. Coffee trees take three to four years to bear proper fruit, meaning La Perla's Cup of Excellence victory came from essentially its first real harvest — a result that speaks to site selection and management as much as luck.

• Veracruz's fog is a growing asset. Humid Gulf air climbing the Sierra Madre Oriental wraps the region's coffee zones in persistent mist, slowing cherry ripening the way high altitude does elsewhere — one reason Veracruz cups punch above their nominal elevation.

What does Mexican coffee taste like?

Classic Mexican profiles run mild with caramel and nut, but Veracruz specialty lots like these show far more range: Mexico Fatima brings milk chocolate, toffee, and pear; Mexico La Perla adds cherry and layered chocolate with a dessert-like creaminess.

What's included in The Taste of Mexico box?

Two 7.1 oz (200.8 g) single-origin coffees from Veracruz producer Ernesto Perez: Mexico Fatima (balanced — milk chocolate, toffee, pear) and Mexico La Perla (expressive — cherry, layered chocolate, creamy sweetness). Both are 100% Arabica.

Who is Ernesto Perez?

A Veracruz producer and three-time Cup of Excellence winner widely credited with raising Mexico's profile in specialty coffee. His La Perla farm took first place at the 2024 Mexico Cup of Excellence just three years after planting.

Which coffee should I open first?

Start with Mexico Fatima to set the balanced baseline, then open La Perla and taste what a competition-winning farm does differently. Espresso drinkers will favor Fatima's chocolate structure; pour-over drinkers will get the most from La Perla's layered profile.

Is this a good introduction to Mexican specialty coffee?

It's the one we'd hand anyone first: an accessible profile and a showpiece profile from the same award-winning producer, in quantities big enough to properly get acquainted with each.