Coffee

Mut Vitz

Mut Vitz (meaning Bird Mountain in the Tzotzil language) was formed in 1997 and named after the mountain, Mut Vitz, which towers over the local villages in Southern Mexico.  Each year, a rare bird migrates to the top of the mountain, and since many of the cooperative's coffee trees grow on the mountainside or in the view of it, the farmers chose the name Mut Vitz. Nearly 1000 farmers help to harvest the coffee crop each season and prepare the beans for shipment to the United States and elsewhere. The cooperative resulted from a desperate need to dissolve the dependence on coyotes (middlemen who pay very little for coffee) and to create a farmer-owned processing and exportation system free from governmental subsidies.

Mut Vitz is comprised of 600 members from 27 different communities in 7 municipalities. The people of Mut Vitz believe that ownership over the growing, processing, and exporting of their coffee is key to offering quality coffee and securing economic self-sufficiency for their families. Because prices offered by the world coffee market are often well below the cost of production, Mut Vitz has obtained fair trade and organic certification in hopes of commanding a liveable wage for their premium quality, mountain-grown beans. Mut Vitz farmers have worked tirelessly to ensure their coffee is grown in a manner that is most beneficial for the farmers, the natural environment, and the coffee. Each coffee tree is shaded so that birds migrating to the area have a place to nest. Strict organic rules are followed so that there is no exposure to harmful chemicals used in conventional coffee growing