La Ilusión Farm by Federico Barrueta (Washed, Typica and Bourbon)

Federico’s farm is located in the State of Mexico an area that has been unknown for its coffee production until recently.

With the success of Federico Barrueta in Cup of Excellence, neighbors from the State of Mexico have decided to take Federico’s knowledge into their farming. Although production volume is low, quality wise State of Mexico is a new powerhouse for mexican coffee.

When you take into consideration that the region in inserted at the skirts of Nevado de Toluca, one of the highest peaks in Mexico but inside a valley with warmer conditions that makes protects the coffee from freezing conditions. At a latitude of 19° and 6,900 fasl the coffee fruit benefits from an extremely low maturity rate at high altitudes creating amazingly dense beans.

After retiring from his profession as an aviation mechanic for the Mexican Air Force, Don Federico returned to the land of his parents in Temascaltepec, State of Mexico, where he found coffee plants and avocados growing wild. This was how Don Federico decided to try his luck with coffee cultivation (according to Federico someone can just come in the night and still the avocados) With just two and a half hectares, he realized that to succeed, he couldn't focus on volume, but only on producing the the highest of qualities.

In 2017 Federico decide to take his coffee to Cup of Excellence. He asked his neighbors for a car and got stopped by the police two times and ran out of money and gas on his way to the competition. He arrived too late for submitting his coffee but the organization used his cotfee as calibratiod for the judges. Everyone was amazed by it and implored him to submitt for the next year’s competitions. He did exactly that and got the recogniztion of the 2nd best coffee in the country. He repeated his success in 2019 an 2021 accumulating 3 times in a row coffees above 90 points.

Undoubtedly, Don Federico marked a before and after in our way of seeing coffee. Thanks to the proximity of our roastery to his farm (2 hours by car), we have been able to establish a very close relationship with him, supporting him with investments in equipment, as well as with the school he built, sample roasting and cupping his neighbors coffees. We fully share his vision of seeing specialty coffee as a vehicle for small coffee farmers in the country to achieve profitability and thereby economic development in their community.

In June 2020, Don Federico built a space to teach and share his knowledge about coffee with his neighbors, seeking to improve the quality of coffee in the State of Mexico and thereby the economic development of coffee-growing regions. His desire is not to be the only succesful coffee story from Edomex but to help develop the region.

The large majority of La Ilusión y planted with native Typica, Bourbon and Caturras that have grown in the region for 30 years.

From all the farmers we work wth Federico’s plantare the oldest but their lower yield produce highly concentraded fruits that reflect great sweetness and complexity.