In the past few years, Mexican coffee culture has seen steady growth. People in the capital are starting to take coffee seriously, and coffee shop openings in Mexico Cityโespecially since 2016โhave been on the upswing, with many more roasteries and cafes joining the city’s busy landscape.
But someย people have been in this business for a long time now, likeย Abril Solis, one of the owners of Mexico City’s stylishย Blend Station. Solisย has been working with coffee for 20 years now. She is a certifiedย Q grader and a technical judge in national barista competitions. Together with Alejandro Forte, sheย decided to open a roastery and a coffee shop that would showcaseย the very best Mexican beans. Solis is the coffee quality side of the operation, whileย Forte is the “idea guy”.
Solisย alsoย gets involved on the farm level. She started a project four years ago in order to help producers improve their quality, which now extends to more thanย 15 farm families in Oaxaca, Hidalgo, and Chiapas. She has been working the longest with the coffee from Hidalgo, a region that was once not considered very good for coffee production. Now, this region has earned a reputation alongside the others for quality.ย Most of the coffee served at Blend Station is from micro-lots sourced fromย these families’ farms, along with other Mexican producers, which Solisย roasts in a 12-kilogram Diedrich in the Blend Stationย coffee lab outside the city. Solisย believes Mexico has the potentialย to compete with other coffee-producing countriesโit is just a matter of boosting both quality and awareness.
Their passion for Mexico does not end at coffee itself.ย The unusual milk steamer in this coffee shop is a project of inventor รngel Valera, a Mexican coffee machine technician who is starting to design coffee machines. Blend Station gave him the opportunity to experiment,ย and he is designing more equipment for them for the future. At the moment, they are using a Modbar to pull their espresso, because of its quality and capacity for experimentation, as well asย the opportunity to engage better withย customers with the absence of a bulky physical barrier atop the bar.ย They have two Compak grinders for the different types of espresso, and for filter coffee the shop offers a variety ofย manualย brewing options like French press, Kalita, andย Chemex.
Blend Station occupiesย the trendy La Condesa neighborhood, which is popular because of its architecture, fine dining restaurants, art, and independent cafes nestled amid abundant plant life and tree growth. Seeking something similarly green and organic for the shop’s design,ย they hired Mexican design groupย Futura. The shop’s abundant light is perfect for the selection of plants and indoor trees withinโwhich they hope one day will cover the shop’s insides in green. Large by Mexico City standards, the cafe’s interior seats up to 70 people, all of whom may partake of not only Solis’ carefully roasted Mexican coffee, but a thoughtfully paired food menu made from high-quality Mexican products.
Blend Station hopes to grow, while being careful to neverย leave Mexican coffeeโits foundationโbehind.ย With sights still set on elevating Mexican coffee in the world’s eyes, Solisย hopes that herย commitment to coffee farms and producersโand of course the final cupโwill lead by example.
Ximena Rubio is a coffee professional based in Mexico City. Read more Ximena Rubio on Sprudge.ย
Photos courtesy ofย Juan Pablo Garcรญa.
