Coatepec

Coatepec grows and roasts the coffee Mexico drinks. Sitting at about 1,200 metres on the wet eastern slope of the Cofre de Perote, the town is surrounded by shade-grown arabica plantations whose altitude, mist and volcanic soil produce beans with a national reputation, and the streets smell accordingly: roasters work behind open doors, cafes serve their own single-estate lots, and shops sell by the kilo. The town itself is a pueblo magico of colonnaded facades in ochre and white, a large parish church, wrought-iron balconies, orchid nurseries and restaurants doing the Veracruz repertoire of river prawns, trout and mole. Fincas around the town open for tours - walking the shade trees, seeing depulping, drying patios and roasting, then cupping the result - and the coffee museum in town lays out the history from the plant's arrival in the eighteenth century. The surrounding country adds waterfalls, the Pescados river's rafting runs, and the cloud-forest reserves that make this one of the greenest corners of Mexico.

What you actually see

• The roasters - open doors and coffee smoke in the streets.
• The fincas - shade plantations, patios and cupping rooms.
• The colonnaded centre - ochre arcades and iron balconies.
• The cloud forest - green slopes and orchid nurseries around.

When to go

November to March for harvest and processing; October to May for the driest weather. This is a rainy region in any season - expect showers.

Honest expectations

Finca tours need booking, especially outside harvest. The town is popular with weekenders from Xalapa and Mexico City; hotels fill. Rain is frequent and the streets are steep and slick.

Nearby

Xico's waterfall and mole are fifteen minutes away; Xalapa's anthropology museum is twenty minutes north.