Guatalon

Santa Rosa | Guatemala

The road drags you in a landscape of unsuspected beauty. The dirt disguises every mile like daring your imagination to find what you think is an ideal terrain for growing such a noble bean. The narrower the path, the wider view posing with luxuriant nature and magnificent mountain hills until your eyes discover El Guatalón y Anexos, integrated by five parcels: La Loma, El Cuje, La Buganvilia, El Pajuil and El Guatalón. The first one belongs to Jalapa department while the other three are located in Santa Rosa department, in the municipality of Santa Rosa de Lima. The paternal grandfather, Daniel Juarez (1,883-1,976), established the first commercial coffee plantation in this region in the early of the 20th century (year 1910) in the village of Belen, Santa Rosa de Lima, using the genetic materials Typica and Mundo Novo.

Quick Facts

Producer:
Gullermo Juarez

Region:
Santa Rosa

Elevation:
1,450 - 1,850 meters

Harvest Months:
November - March

Varieties:
Caturra, Catuai, Bourbon, Pacamara, Pache

Processing:
Washed
Guatalon.jpg

In the next generation only our father, Juan Alberto Juarez Reyes (1929-2012), took the decision to grow coffee commercially, establishing his plantation in El Cuje plot by the mid 70s, in an area of 4 hectares. On this location he planted the varieties Pache San Ramon and Catuai.

We are determined to achieve higher prices for our efforts. In May 2012, our coffee was very close to qualify for the Cup of Excellence auction. This coffee lot ended up in the 24th place, just one spot behind. We have always been selected during the national and international competition. We knew there was still one step further, just an extra one. Finally our dreams have become true, on May 16th, 2014 we receive the reward, and our farm was selected as one of the best Guatemala n coffees. This is considered for us not a reward but a challenge from now to the future; to continue making efforts to enhance the coffee quality produce in our farms. “We do have a wet mill which capacity is 2,500 bags of parchment coffee. But we normally sell in cherry to the middleman. We want to go further now. We know we can deliver higher quality”. After all, we know living and succeeding is just about that: always make an extra effort.