Coffee in Mexico

Mexico is a coffee grower and a coffee drinker on a large scale. It grows about 4.1 million bags a year, mostly arabica from small, shaded farms in the mountains of the south, and drinks about three-quarters as much as it grows, while also importing coffee for its instant-coffee industry. Three of its coffees have denominations of origin: Veracruz, Chiapas and Oaxaca’s Pluma. Here’s how much, where, when and how.

The short version

• About 4.1 million bags a year; 85% arabica, 15% robusta.
• Chiapas, Veracruz and Puebla grow more than 80%.
• Harvest mostly November–April.
• Small farms, mostly: 95.5% of Veracruz’s are under 3 ha.
• Three denominations of origin: Café Veracruz, Café Chiapas and Pluma.
• A big market at home: Mexicans drink about 3.2 million bags a year.

How much coffee does Mexico grow?

About 4.1 million 60 kg bags. USDA’s figures, for a coffee year from October to September:

Coffee year	Arabica	Robusta	Total	Exports	Imports
2024/25	3.59 million	340,000	3.93 million	3.47 million	2.64 million
2025/26 (estimate)	3.58 million	500,000	4.08 million	3.45 million	2.53 million
2026/27 (forecast)	3.58 million	560,000	4.14 million	3.41 million	2.43 million

Source: USDA, May 2026.

Mexico’s agriculture statistics service, SIAP, counts the crop as coffee cherry: 1.08 million tonnes in 2024/25, up 1.9% on the year before. Robusta is the growth story: big instant-coffee makers want local beans and offer robusta farmers contracts, USDA says, and Mexico is replacing imports with them.

Where is coffee grown in Mexico?

In 14 states, but mostly in four, which together grow about 90%:

State	Share of the crop, 2024/25	Cherry coffee, 2021	Area planted, 2021
Chiapas	36.5%	384,937 t	253,458 ha
Veracruz	24.8%	229,998 t	145,211 ha
Puebla	21.1%	146,164 t	70,674 ha
Oaxaca	Not given	85,663 t	134,113 ha
Guerrero	Not given	38,961 t	45,549 ha
Hidalgo	Not given	29,268 t	23,070 ha

Sources: SIAP, via La Crónica (2024/25); SIAP, November 2021. Smaller crops grow in Nayarit, San Luis Potosí, Jalisco, Colima and a few other states.

Yields differ a lot. Puebla gets the most from its land, more than double the national average, USDA says, while Oaxaca grew little more than half as much coffee as Puebla in 2021 on nearly twice the area, SIAP’s figures show.

The coffee: shade and altitude

Most Mexican coffee is arabica, grown under shade. The traditional varieties are Typica, Bourbon, Caturra and Mundo Novo; after years of leaf rust, farmers are replanting with rust-resistant varieties such as Catimor and Sarchimor, many of which have yet to bear fruit, USDA says. The official standards for the two oldest denominations set the floor: Café Veracruz must be grown above 750 metres, and Café Chiapas above 800 metres, with its top grade, Estrictamente Altura, above 1,000 metres.

When is coffee harvested in Mexico?

From about November to April, SIAP says, with almost nothing picked between June and October. In Chiapas the harvest starts earlier, in September, in the lowlands of the coast and Soconusco, and climbs into the mountains, finishing in April or May.

Who grows Mexican coffee?

Smallholders, mostly. Coffee employs more than 500,000 people in 15 states and 480 municipalities, the agriculture ministry said in 2018, and 181,364 producers received the government’s coffee support payment in 2026, USDA reports. In Veracruz, 95.5% of coffee farms are under 3 hectares, the Universidad Veracruzana says.

Protected names

Name	Declared	Area
Café Veracruz	2000	82 municipalities in Veracruz
Café Chiapas	27 August 2003	77 municipalities in Chiapas
Pluma (Café Pluma)	4 February 2020	30 municipalities in Oaxaca

Sources: Wikipedia; NOM-169-SCFI-2007; Animal Gourmet.

Where does Mexican coffee go?

Mostly north. The United States took 68% of Mexico’s coffee exports in 2024, followed by Belgium (13.6%) and Germany (7.8%), according to FIRA, the farm development fund. About half of what Mexico exports is instant coffee, USDA’s figures show.

A short history

• Late 18th century: coffee reached Mexico from the Caribbean, landing first in Veracruz, Wikipedia says; exports stayed small until the 1870s.
• Late 19th century: coffee reached Chiapas, which became the biggest region.
• 1970s–1980s: the state coffee institute, INMECAFE, pushed coffee into new land; by 1982 Mexico had nearly 500,000 hectares of it.
• 1989: INMECAFE was dismantled and the International Coffee Agreement’s quotas ended, leaving small farmers exposed to the market.
• 1999–2003: a coffee crisis; by 2005 exports had fallen to their lowest in three decades.
• 2000–2020: three coffee denominations of origin.

How do Mexicans drink their coffee?

Mostly instant, about 60% of what they drink, USDA says, though roasted and speciality coffee is growing fast, and Mexico is Starbucks’ biggest market in Latin America. The classic is café de olla, brewed with cinnamon and piloncillo, which coffee tricycles sell on city streets in the morning alongside instant coffee and bread.

Mexican coffee and other origins

• Coffee in Honduras: Central America’s biggest grower, to the south.
• Coffee in Colombia: the great washed arabica of the Andes.
• The atlas: Mexico’s growing area on the map.