REGION: Mexico

THE SANTUARIO PROJECT

Camilo Santuario founded the Santuario Project over two decades ago with a vision to enhance coffee quality, profitability, and biodiversity. This project began as a Colombian farm model but has now expanded internationally to Brazil, Costa Rica, and Mexico. The project empowers coffee producers to experiment with innovative processing techniques to enhance coffee quality and profitability.

In 2018, the Santuario Project started its work in Mexico, with the same philosophy and framework for the country's coffee producers. The project aims to create sustainable, financially rewarding, and biodiversity-enhancing amazing coffees. This project is helping to raise the quality of coffee worldwide while empowering farmers to take control of their future.

We have three coffees by the Santuario Project, each with its unique fermentation process.

The PURPLE HONEY is the most premium in our selection, harvested when their sugar concentration goes beyond 25 Brix. The cherries are soaked in water for 8 hours before depulping, leaving 75% of the mucilage still on the pip. The coffee is sun-dried on beds for 18 days before being transferred to the shade to stabilise for six days.

The RED HONEY cherries are harvested when they’re above 24 Brix and soaked for 5 hours. They're sprayed with Mossto and fermented for 42 hours. The cherries are depulped, leaving 35% of the mucilage on the pip, and then go through a second fermentation with Mossto for 4 hours. Finally, the cherries are sun-dried and left to rest for 18 days before being moved to the shade to stabilise.

The TACO cherries are rinsed and sorted in floatation tanks, moved to fermentation tanks where aerobic fermentation occurs over 24 hours. They’re then rolled up at a density of 450kg of cherry per 30 meters, left to ferment for 72 hours, creating a controlled semi-anaerobic environment to promote extra fermentation. Finally, the cherries are removed and placed on raised beds in a controlled environment for 22 days until they reach the optimum moisture content of 10.5%.

3 awesome coffees, 1 tough decision… which one do you go for? For those unsure, we offer our MEXICO SERIES STEEP BAGS featuring all three coffees by the Santuario Project, perfect for a quick caffeine hit. Just add hot water, and you’re good to go!


The Santuario Project aims to create amazing coffees that are sustainable, financially rewarding, and enhance biodiversity.

The project's philosophy and framework are being applied in four countries to empower coffee producers to experiment with processing techniques to enhance coffee quality and profitability.

The project is creating a positive impact worldwide by raising the quality of coffee while empowering farmers to take control of their future.

The Santuario Project Mexico •