Día de los Muertos

Six communities in Oaxaca’s Sierra Sur organize under a name longer than anyone uses in conversation: Sistema Comunitario para el Resguardo y Manejo de la Biodiversidad. Sicobi, for short. What the acronym stands for matters less than what it does: preserve biodiversity while growing coffee that refuses to taste like typical Mexican coffee.

This year’s Día de los Muertos brings notes of hazelnut brittle, merlot, and chocolate cherry; a profile that leans into the holiday’s warmth without being overly sweet. The body is heavy and round, the acidity boozy. It’s the kind of coffee that makes sense when the days get shorter and you want something that feels like gathering with people you’ve known forever.
Sicobi’s coffees break expectations. Despite being fully washed, they carry an almost fruit-forward character you’d expect from natural processing. The reason sits in Oaxaca’s arid micro-climate and the wooden fermentation tanks growers use. Between 1,300 and 1,900 meters, Caturra, Mundo Novo, and Typica varieties develop under shade canopy that’s protected by community policy, not just good intentions.

We’ve worked with Sicobi since 2016, watching 500 growers across these communities refine their approach year after year. They don’t process every cherry that grows, only the percentage that meets their standards. Young technicians, usually students from the communities themselves, gather data that informs how the collective board makes decisions. It’s coffee shaped by people who live where it grows.

Día de los Muertos honors those who came before while celebrating life continuing forward. This coffee carries that same spirit. Rooted in tradition, alive in the present, impossible to categorize neatly.