Ensambles Cafés Mexicanos and Instituto Bios Terra: a living ecosystem supporting rural Mexico

Ensambles Cafés Mexicanos (ECM) and the Instituto Bios Terra (IBT) are two sister organisations founded by Gibrán Cervantes Covarrubias. Together, they are part of the Bios Comunidad Sustentable ecosystem. They stand as a remarkable example of corporate mutualism, where each one strengthens and complements the mission of the other.

ECM was founded in 2017 as a coffee trading company. Over time, it moved beyond its transactional role to embrace a broader mission: actively contributing to the transformation of rural Mexico.

Nearly six years later, the Instituto Bios Terra was born with the goal of strengthening and supporting that mission — expanding its reach into research, education, and impact within coffee-growing regions.

Today, united by coffee, both organisations develop integrated projects aimed at revitalizing Mexican agriculture, supporting farming communities, connecting coffee growers to fair and differentiated markets, and breaking away from the extractive systems that have historically shaped the coffee value chain in the country.

Their work spans environmental, social, cultural, economic, and political dimensions—recognising coffee not just as a raw material, but as a living fabric that connects territories, contexts, landscapes, and people.

What follows are the projects that both organisations have focused their efforts on—initiatives they are developing in collaboration with partners who have chosen to become ambassadors of this shared mission.

Tlapajti: Healing and Detoxifying the Land

Tlapajti is part of the Alliance for the Development of Specialty and Regenerative Coffees, an initiative based in the Sierra de Zongolica, Veracruz, led by Ensambles Cafés Mexicanos. Through its field team, IBT provides technical knowledge and holistic support to help achieve the project’s goals in this region, home to Náhuatl Indigenous communities.

This project has been established as a pilot experience, with the goal of being replicated in other regions. Key actions carried out so far include:

• Formation and strengthening of the Citlal Kaffen cooperative, made up of 11 families from the region.

  
  

• Improvement of coffee quality and connection to national and international markets through Ensambles.

• Establishment of a local cherry collection & buying system.

• Construction of a community wet mill with the capacity to process 60 tons of specialty coffee cherries.

• Support for the agroecological transition, with the goal of obtaining organic certification.

• In partnership with the NGO NUUP, implementation of the Sirio platform to geo-reference coffee plots and comply with the requirements of the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR).

Producing differentiated coffees—organic, regenerative, and specialty—with strong on-farm quality and sustainability practices

Mexico’s agricultural sector is highly vulnerable to climate risks, largely due to its geographic position between tropical and temperate zones, combined with the country’s diverse range of climates.

In the case of coffee, production is often affected by low yields, plant diseases, and at times even total crop loss caused by extreme weather events such as droughts, floods, hurricanes, wildfires, and early or late frosts.

In response to this reality, we have developed a pioneering project in Mexico aimed at ensuring the security and sustainability of specialty coffee through an agricultural insurance mechanism. This year, we acquired 56 parametric insurance policies for communities in Oaxaca and Chiapas, with the goal of protecting coffee farms and mitigating the adverse effects of climate change, offering an effective tool for risk management in the sector.

Protecting farms should not be a burden borne solely by farming families. That’s why the insurance is financed through a tripartite model, in which each stakeholder contributes an equal share:

• The producer

• Ensambles Cafés Mexicanos

• The buyer

The Instituto Bios Terra leads the management of the project, ensuring that its objectives are met and that the pilot program is implemented effectively.

Market Access

Ensambles has become a key commercial arm, connecting farming families with differentiated specialty coffee markets, both nationally and internationally. In partnership with Instituto Bios Terra (IBT), they have fostered new dynamics aimed at transforming the historically extractive systems entrenched in these regions—systems dominated by oligopolies that operate through intermediaries and often pay unfair prices, sometimes even below the cost of production.

In response to this situation, both organisations have worked to propose alternative models for sourcing green coffee, grounded in transparency, equity, and quality. To support this, they have established collection centres in each community, backed by field technicians who, during harvest season, ensure logistics and provide direct support to coffee growers.

They also operate mobile labs set up in the field, where each lot is cupped and scored based on its quality. This process gives producers a key negotiation tool and offers genuine recognition for their work.

In this way, before any sale takes place, critical points in the value chain are addressed and strengthened, ensuring that coffee is marketed under fair, ethical conditions aligned with the value standards demanded by specialty markets.

This year, we were active in Veracruz, Chiapas, Oaxaca, Michoacán, Guerrero, and Puebla, reaching 27 municipalities and 128 communities. There, we supported 1,218 coffee-growing families—a 63% increase compared to the previous cycle.

Our network is enriched by the cultural diversity of six Indigenous peoples: Mazateco, Náhuatl, Me'phaa, Tzeltal, Zapoteco, and Mixteco.

Conserving Forest Ecosystems

In the face of the critical risk of forest loss, climate change, and especially the rapid disappearance of the cloud forest due to agricultural expansion, Ensambles and Instituto Bios Terra promote production models that reconcile farming with conservation. Their focus is on coffee production within agroforestry systems—including traditional, commercial and rustic polycultures systems.

These systems not only reduce pressure on ecosystems but also offer multiple benefits: they strengthen food sovereignty and diversification, protect biodiversity, act as buffers against climate change, provide environmental services, and enable ecological coffee production that yields some of the highest quality beans.

Make a Difference

If you want to be part of the projects we’re driving alongside Mexico’s coffee-growing communities, reach out to us! Get involved and find your way to contribute—whether by joining efforts, providing resources, or sponsoring initiatives that transform lives.

Photos: Ensambles Cafés Mexicanos - Pablo Gómez