Maricela Esperón

In Llano de Agua, Santa María la Asunción, a small town in the north of Oaxaca, Mexico, better known for psychedelic mushrooms than coffee, lives Maricela Esperón. Although her grandfather was also a coffee farmer, Maricela’s journey into farming was not easy. When it came time for him to retire, Maricela’s father, Miguel, should have been the heir. But because at the time Miguel only had daughters, his father broke tradition and gave his plot to his sibling. Miguel then left for Mexico City, returning after saving enough to buy a plot of his own, which Maricela took over when her father became ill.

Now managing everything herself, Maricela faces challenges with the Mazatecan humidity, which means washed coffee is the norm to avoid cherries getting mouldy. But Maricela, again breaking tradition, produces naturals. To achieve this, she follows an intensive routine: drying cherries on the roof of her house, the only area flat enough. She then bags them up in the evening, storing them downstairs overnight, and returns them all back each morning. Each batch takes 30 days to dry.