Coatepec
Also known as “The capital of coffee” is a town in the state of Veracruz, located 8 kilometers from the capital, the city of Xalapa.
It was a pre-Hispanic population of the Totonacs, gathered in the 16th century in the current location; The population arrived from a place located 15 km away, known as Coatepec Viejo. In 1560, Franciscan religious founded the first church on the current site.
Archaeological explorations and accidental finds reveal that Totonac populations settled in the place where the municipality is located, which later belonged to the Triple Alliance. During the colony, the conquering chroniclers do not make specific mention of their passage through Coatepec, but it is known that the area was an obligatory passage on the route to Tenochtitlán. Its foundation was in 1702, the year in which the construction of the Parish of San Jerónimo materialized. The Title of Villa was granted in consideration of the various merits obtained by the inhabitants of Coatepec, fighting the American army of the North, which invaded Mexico through the port of Veracruz in the year 1847, in whose action the Coatepecan Juan Clímaco stood out. Rebolledo. For the merits it had in defending national sovereignty, the state governor Juan Soto and the Veracruz congress granted Coatepec the title of Villa on October 25, 1848. Later in 1886 it was elevated to the category of city.
Coatepec stands out for being a high-altitude coffee producing and marketing area. Among the relevant data on the quality of Coatepec coffee, it stands out that the state of Veracruz was one of the first states in which the coffee plant was grown. The story goes that coffee arrived in Coatepec in 1808 and that the first plants were brought from Cuba and cultivated on the then Zimpizahua hacienda. However, it was not until the last decades of the 19th century when coffee became relevant as an economic activity. In 1888, Coatepec coffee had already become an important export crop.
“The coffee mills,” as the large industrial warehouses dedicated to processing this grain are called, constitute a forgotten architectural heritage and about to get lost in Mexico. Of the many that were in Coatepec, Veracruz, only three remain: Bola de Oro, Roma and La Mata.
In its old town center, still preserved to some extent, the great prosperity experienced by the population from exports of the product at the beginning of the 20th century, a time when coffee prices were on the rise. In its traditional architecture you can see isolated and superb mansions with elegant gates, some of them two stories; In addition, several streets show a regularity in their architecture characterized by very high tile roofs, wide eaves, beautiful wrought balconies and central gardens in the Arabic style.
The city of coffee is, in addition to orchids, not only due to the number of nurseries existing in the city, also due to private orchards and permanent displays in the garden of Parque Hidalgo, the central avenue.
