Guatemala
Central America
The land of lakes and volcanos, Guatemala has a vast range of growing regions and an equivalent range of complex cups to match. Most of the farms in Guatemala are small, from 1-10 hectares, but there are also some larger estates. The most commonly cultivated coffee varieties are Bourbon, Typica, Pache, and Catuai. Farmers have the option to process the coffee at their homes if facilities and water allow for it or they can deliver cherry to a larger mill or farmers’ cooperative.
La Minita began to source coffees from the Antigua region in the early 1990s. We wanted to ensure our Guatemalan coffees met the standards of our Costa Rican coffees, so we implemented a quality control process where our Director of Quality Sergio Cruz would oversee the final processing and lot selection of our Guatemalan coffees. This program is still in place today and Sergio can often be found in Guatemala during the harvest and export season.
With the success of our Antigua program, we began to explore other coffee regions to bring in other high quality traceable coffees. Through our in-country partners, we have connected with a number of excellent small farm and cooperatives and are proud to bring their coffee to the US market.