356 MEXICAN COFFEES. 



being well prepared. In flavor it is, however, high and 

 fragrant, approximating most to that of a Plantation 

 Ceylon. 



Tepic, — or " Mexican Mocha," grown in the State 

 of Jalisco is claimed to be a transplant of the Arabian 

 berry, which has by careful and scientific cultivation 

 been so improved in flavor and aroma as to rival, if not 

 actually excel, the product of the parent plant. The 

 natural bean is exceedingly small, hard and " flinty " in 

 texture, steel-blue in color, faultless in roast, rich and 

 creamy in body and highly aromatic in flavor. The sup- 

 ply being limited it is rarely exported, being principally 

 consumed in the district of production, where it commands 

 a very high price, selling on the spot for as much as one 

 dollar per pound. 



Tabasco — Is a coast-grown coffee cultivated in the 

 hot, moist low-lands of the Campeachy gulf, and is the 

 poorest of the Mexican varieties. The bean is of a 

 sickly-green hue, medium in size, and moist or 

 " spongy " in substance, bitter and astringent in flavor, 

 and taken altogether a most undesirable sort for any 

 purpose. 



Soconusco — Produced in Chiapas, close to the rich 

 coffee lands of Guatemala is another high-grade coffee, 

 ranking among the finest of the Mexican varieties. It is 

 a large, mature bean, varying in color, according to age, 

 from a bluish-green to a pale-yellow, full and round in 

 body, ripe and mellow in flavor as a rule. 



Colima — Raised on the west coast is a medium-sized 

 bean, flat in form, fairly solid, but varying in color from 

 greenish to pale, even in roast, rather round in liquor 

 and pleasing in flavor, and generally shipped to the 

 Pacific States. 



