Our Organic Guatemalan Coffee
Max Perez has become a well-known and regarded name in Specialty coffee in Guatemala. His certified Organic farms, fincas La Hermosa and Mama Cata sit in the high Acatenango valley in Chimaltenango, tucked between volcanoes. The slopes of Volcán de Acatenango provide the perfect growing conditions for excellent coffees. High altitudes, nutrient and mineral dense soils, steady annual rainfall, and a temperate climate make an ideal micro-climate for exotic varieties. Max began farming in Acatenango in 2010, but his legacy in coffee cultivation goes back 4 generations. After taking many trips to different growing regions in search of the perfect micro-climate and growing conditions, he found them in Acatenango, on one of the highest plots of land in the region. Here, the Perez family quickly divested the land into strategic subplots and planted exceptional varieties throughout. By 2018, La Hermosa was already winning international awards in the Cup of Excellence. 20 Workers live and work on the farm during harvest season. When cupping this coffee, we taste rich dark chocolate and layered fruit sweetness with a velvety mouthfeel. We hope you enjoy this coffee as much as we do!
The Origins of Guatemalan Coffee
How It Began
Arabica Coffea trees
first arrived in Guatemala in the 1750s amid the belongings of Jesuit missionaries who’d brought them as beautiful ornamental plants for
monasteries in Antigua.
By 1880 coffee was Guatemala’s top export after the
formation of the Commission for Coffee Cultivation and Production and the
distribution of more than a million coffee seeds throughout the country’s
coffee growing regions.
Gautemalan Coffee Regions
Despite a nearly three century history with coffee that has sparked government land grabs,
government coups, and the ever-present threat of leaf rust, Guatemala has emerged as a source of surprising variety in its product.
Guatemala has eight coffee growing regions--San Marco, Acatenango, Atitlan, Coban, Nuevo Oriente Huehuetenango, Fraijanes and, of course, Antigua--ranging in elevation from 4,300 to 6,600 feet and each producing its own range of flavors, thanks in part to the their rich soils and microclimates.
Little Country
Some estimates rank
Guatemala in the top five producers of high grade coffee in the world, with a
high percentage of its crop considered “high quality”--an enviable distinction every specialty roaster seeks in their beans. It’s no wonder that half its coffee exports go to U.S. coffee roasters and that the crop represents a large part of Guatemala's annual revenue.
So as you might imagine, the complexity of the coffee industry in Guatemala doesn’t only extend to the flavor notes found in its beans. The growers there also live in complex, or, rather, complicated circumstances.
Country: Guatemala
Altitude: 1,250–1,850 Meters
Designation: Certified Organic
Variety: Catuai, Caturra, Bourbon, Tipica