Meet the Bean in Your Cup Right Now

If you've been into The Aussie Grind recently — at Frisco or Provisions — you've already tasted this coffee. You just didn't know the story behind it yet.

We're currently running the Mexico Chiapas Highlands Washed SHG 2025 as our espresso at both locations. Roasted in-house. In your flat white, your long black, your piccolo. This is the bean. Read on to check out where it comes from, how we're roasting it, and what you're actually tasting.

Where It Comes From

Chiapas is Mexico's southernmost state, a mountainous region bordering Guatemala that sits high in the Sierra Madre mountain range, between 1,200 and 1,750 metres above sea level.

The farms here are run by smallholder farmers working volcanic soil under a dense forest canopy. The altitude matters more than most people realise. Coffee cherries at this elevation develop slowly in cooler temperatures, accumulating more complex sugars over a longer growing cycle. More sugar development means more flavour in your cup — it's that direct.

This lot is graded SHG (Strictly High Grown) a quality designation that confirms the coffee was cultivated at high altitude. It's not a marketing label. It reflects a measurable difference in bean density and cup quality.

The processing is washed, meaning the fruit is removed from the bean before drying. This gives the coffee clarity and precision — the terroir comes through cleanly, without the fruit-forward interference you'd get from a natural process. What you taste is the bean itself.

How We're Roasting It

We're roasting this bean to a medium-dark profile on our Piccolo Chinook air roaster.

The Chiapas is a dense, hard bean — a characteristic of high-altitude SHG coffee — which means it takes heat well and rewards careful development time. At medium dark, the sugars caramelise fully. That's where the chocolate and brown sugar notes open up.

We chose medium-dark deliberately. A lighter roast on this bean doesn't produce brightness and citrus — it moves toward dried fruit, a slight sourness, and a more tea-like character. That's not what this coffee is about. Medium-dark is where it lives. Where the sweetness, the body, and the chocolate all align.

What You're Tasting & Why

DARK CHOCOLATE
The dark chocolate comes from the Maillard reaction during roasting which is the same process that browns a steak or caramelises an onion. At medium-dark, the sugars and amino acids in the bean produce compounds that taste distinctly chocolatey. Volcanic soil and high altitude give the Chiapas enough natural sugar content to make this note really sing.

ALMOND
A hallmark of washed Mexican coffees, particularly from Chiapas. Almond comes from pyrazines, flavour compounds that develop during roasting and are remarkably stable. This is why the coffee holds up so well in milk drinks. The almond note doesn't disappear behind a flat white. It integrates.

BROWN SUGAR
The sweetness at the back of the shot. A direct result of slow, high-altitude cherry development — the bean accumulates more sucrose than lower-altitude coffee, and at medium-dark that converts into caramel-like sweetness without tipping into bitterness.

A Bean That Performs

We've spent real time dialing in this bean at the machine, and what stands out is how consistently it delivers. The medium-dark roast hits a sweet spot where the chocolate and brown sugar notes are present in every shot — whether you're drinking it straight as an espresso or in a flat white where the almond character integrates beautifully with the milk.

Full-bodied, sweet, and clean across every drink style we put it through. That consistency only comes from roasting your own coffee and genuinely understanding what's in the bag from the moment it leaves the roaster.

Ready to Brew: We've Done the Work For You

Why we freeze our coffee

Every batch we roast is rested for the optimal time we've researched and dialed in, then frozen at peak flavour. What you receive is exactly how we intended you to taste it — no guesswork, no waiting, no prep required on your end. We made sure of that before it ever left the roastery.

At home: grab what you need for your session, reseal the bag, and get it straight back in the freezer. Grind directly from frozen; don't thaw first. Cold beans grind more consistently, and that's exactly how we do it.

Your coffee is ready the moment you open the bag.

Limited Run, Available Now!

The Mexico Chiapas Highlands is running as our espresso at both locations right now and available as whole beans to take home — for your espresso machine, pour over, or morning ritual at home. This is a limited seasonal lot. When it's gone, it's gone.

Frisco
3930 Preston Rd

Provisions
4887 Alpha Rd Provisions | Farmers Branch

Come in and ask for a short black. We'll talk you through what you're tasting. That's the whole point of roasting our own.