In the east of Mexico, in Córdoba, two sisters are running a family ranch in its fourth generation. In recent years, they have specialized in direct contact with roasters, opening up new markets and opportunities, and have launched a decaffeinated coffee with arguably the shortest supply chains in the world.
Actually, the original plan for the two sisters Melisa and Jimena was different than taking over a ranch - Melisa studied architecture and was drawn to Switzerland. Jimena studied agricultural science in Mexico, and after her studies, decided together with Melisa to take over the family business.
Family businesses follow a different dynamic than many other businesses.
Family ties can mean motivation, obstacle, but also obligation and pride. Melisa and Jimena themselves witnessed how the past 20 years have been challenging. They have experienced the hopes and the pain, and seen that especially in Mexico, it is time for young women to make their mark in a male-dominated field.
Melisa and Jimena, 2022
Diverse Tasks at Rancho San Felipe
Rancho San Felipe is now being run in its fourth generation by the two sisters. Their father, Adrián, oriented the ranch toward coffee, greatly expanded the network and became a pillar in the coffee region around Córdoba, Veracruz.
The Rancho San Felipe itself produces almost no coffee anymore today, but instead experiments with varieties and offers tours of its own gardens.
Melisa shows us the tree nursery at Rancho San Felipe, where they grow shade trees, fruit trees and flowers in addition to coffee.
The ranch buys coffee cherries or already pulped coffee from the region, processes it further, dries and sorts it until it is ready for export. Rancho San Felipe puts together its own blends, which Benjamin Distl, Melisa's partner, then primarily exports to Europe.
At the same time, however, the ranch also processes coffee on behalf of producers, even roasts it, or searches for market channels in Mexico itself. This broad approach helps the ranch cover many different areas and utilize the potential of its infrastructure.
On the ranch in Córdoba, in addition to a Beneficio Humedo - that is, the place where cherries are pulped, fermented and washed - there is also a Beneficio Seco. There, dried coffee still in its parchment is cleaned of foreign matter, separated from the parchment skin, sorted by size and density, bagged and tasted.
Rancho San Felipe at night.
The facilities have been in operation for a long time and Melisa and Jimena have long-term plans. Step by step, they want to renew the ranch. The history of the ranch goes back more than a century, when the area was also larger. Much has changed and the two are eager to start new projects and build on old relationships.
The Sueño - The Project for Our Decaffeinated Coffee with Descamex
And this approach manifests itself precisely in the decaffeinated coffee that Rancho San Felipe now makes for us. A few years ago, we asked Benjamin Distl if they would like to make a specialty decaf?
The main reason was that Rancho San Felipe and Descamex, one of only two companies worldwide that decaffeinate raw coffee using only water and pressure, are almost neighbors. Both companies are based in Córdoba. And because Melisa and Jimena's father already knew the people responsible at Descamex, connecting the dots happened quickly.
Cupping at Descamex, who decaffeinate our decaf using only water
But raw coffee was still missing, and that is now supplied by Rafael Reyes. Reyes bought thousands of new seedlings of the Geisha variety, unaware that it wasn't actually Geisha at all. He hoped to succeed in a highly sought-after market with them. After two years, it then turned out that they certainly were not Geisha varieties and he had been "misinformed" at purchase.
That was just the moment when Melisa and Jimena came into contact with him - Rafael Reyes had also already been in contact with their father, but at that time the two sisters were still younger.
In Reyes' memory, however, they were probably still "the girls" (las niñas), who one day showed up on the farm, and he called them that from then on.
In contrast to before, however, they came now with a business idea for how they could help Reyes. Reyes' coffee fit sensorially precisely in the range that we also wanted for the decaffeinated coffee. Sweet, notes of maple syrup, heavy, with medium acidity.
Rafael Reyes' farm in the Sierra de Gallego
Reyes supplies the cherries, Rancho San Felipe pulps and ferments them, dries the beans and delivers them to Descamex, ten minutes up the road toward Orizaba.
Initially, they produced one batch with Descamex, which corresponded to about 2.5 tons of raw coffee. Demand for a hyper-local, decaffeinated coffee rose continuously - with us and with friendly roasters - so Rancho San Felipe has now quintupled the quantity.
Don Ramiro, the farm manager, with the Sueño - from the farm to the roastery and back
The New Coffee Generation at Rancho San Felipe
Today, Melisa and Jimena are at the helm of the ranch, Beni takes care of coffee export and marketing, both domestically and internationally. Beni himself also roasts coffee for the local market. When he was in one of our roasting courses in 2021, he surprised everyone when he said he was able to reduce his roasting time from "60 minutes to 40 minutes."
The old 70kg roaster - it runs, and runs, and runs
Of course, that is a long roasting time, but the machine won't do better. For the needs on site, however, he optimized the system so well that they were able to roast more and more private label for producers and also create an additional sales channel with their own brand.
Whoever makes coffee does not just make coffee.
The tasks are so multifaceted at Rancho San Felipe in Córdoba because many of the projects have grown historically. There is the large garden where they grow flowers and succulents and sell them in their own flower shop in Orizaba. There is the model farm where they experiment with varieties, test different types of compost, grow fruits, take tourists through the farm and show them coffee trees. There is the beehive for their own honey and the drying beds for their specialty lots, which already make up almost ten percent of the total harvest.
Visit in October 2022, from left to right: Philipp, Michel (Kaffeemacher:innen team), Melisa, Jimena, Patrizio (Ballon Coffee Roasters), Beni
Melisa, Jimena and Benni have taken on a huge project. We are impressed by the dedication, creativity and humility with which they are stepping into the footsteps of a family tradition. They have their program, are open to projects, sense where a specialty market is heading and know exactly that working with coffee is never just about coffee, but about people, relationships and old bonds, which they are now carrying into a new era.
