131 farming families from the communities of San Francisco, San Juan, San José Ozolotepec, and San Felipe Lachillo in Sierra Sur, Oaxaca contributed to this special lot. All of these families are also of Zapotec descent, and maintaining their culture and traditions are essential to their way of life. This coffee was grown in a very rugged area of Sierra Sur. Towering, rocky mountains capture the warm, humid winds blowing in from the Pacific Ocean, creating a unique microclimate of warm days and cool, breezy nights. Sicobi, which stands for Sistema Comunitario para el Resguardo y Manejo de la Biodiversidad (Community System for Protecting and Managing Biodiversity), was founded by biologists in 2010 by the non-governmental organization GAIA. Trained biologists continue to work in each community and pass on data to local councils to inform on how to best utilize the area's natural resources. Like all of Sicobi's coffees, Nanixhe is a washed process coffee but with wilder, more intense fruit flavors. We like to think of its as the best of both worlds: you get the clarity and crispness of a washed process as well as the complexity, depth of flavor and intensity of a natural process. Look for notes of ripe nectarine and tart lime, rounded by sugar cane and honey. Sicobi has a unique way of organizing growers. While the organization doesn’t work with all coffee growers in the surrounding communities, it has established policies and rules to help maintain high quality growing and processing standards for the region. Sicobi enforces its policies through a board consisting of local authorities, and through this territorial management it aims to preserve biodiversity in the community. There is one paid technician in each community in Sicobi—typically a young student who gathers information for that community. The council uses this information to establish policies and rules that make the best use of the community’s natural resources.