Santa Rosa Guatemala. Caturra, Pache. Natural. 

Every bean has a story


Finca El Durazno is a beautiful farm located in El Pajal San Antonio Huista, Huehuetenango, Guatemala, at an altitude ranging between 1,300 and 1,600 meters above sea level. Octavio Lopez Camposeco owns the farm with his family. Octavio is 57 years old now, and has 6 children: 4  daughters and 2 sons. His wife is Mercedes, and they've been married for 35 years. He has 11 grandchildren! Two of his daughters have farms in the area with their families as well.

Finca El Durazno

The property of El Durazno is decorated with namesake peach trees, their intoxicating fragrance filling the air. More than thirty five years ago, Octavio López Camposeco began growing coffee alongside peaches. He started small with coffee, in a 25 x 25 meter lot. Year over year, the peaches were stolen, so in the end Octavio switched to coffee. He and his family grow Catuaí, Maragogype, Caturra, and Pache varieties.

A very dry couple of years for this farm forced senor Octavio to introduce natural process. The team at the farm picks the fruit and dries the cherries for 25 days. This coffee, specifically, is a very consistent cup and an amazing profile of coffee from Octavio. He is always trying to produce sweet coffees with great acidity from the Huehuetenango region. In recent years, his family has been trying to expand as much as they can to buy more and more land every 5 years so that Octavio can ultimately extend the property with his sons and produce more coffees.

Harvest Hope

In this region, Paradigma and "Harvest Hope" started an educational program for farmers teaching them different techniques to increase the volume per hectare, being more regular knowing his cost of production, so the farmers can be sustainable and not depending on the C-market all the time.

The aim is to empower small coffee producers in Guatemala. Through education in harvesting techniques and financial management, the program is helping these hardworking farmers thrive and succeed.

"Harvest Hope" is a comprehensive program with the aim of uplifting coffee farmers. They achieve this by equipping them with the knowledge and tools necessary for sustainable and profitable farming. This initiative encapsulates a holistic approach, focusing on:

• Technical-Agronomic Guidance


• Financial Training


• Sustainability Measures


• Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Caturra

Caturra is a natural mutation of the Bourbon variety. It was discovered on a plantation in the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil sometime between 1915 and 1918. Caturra has a single-gene mutation that causes the plant to grow smaler. Guatemala first got the Caturra variety in the 1940s. However, widespread commercial adoption of this variety didn’t happen for another three decades.

Pache

Pache is a natural mutation of the Typica variety, related to a single gene that causes the plant to grow smaller (Dwarf / Compactism). This essentially means that Pache is planted more densely and achieves higher yields. The variety was discovered in 1949 in Guatemala on the Brito farm in Santa Cruz Naranjo, Santa Rosa. Mass selection took place across private farms in Guatemala, and from there spread to other regions and countries.

 

This is our second coffee from Guatemala - make sure you give our other one, La Bolsa, a try here!