Grown: Santa Catarina, San Martin Jilotepeque, Antigua
Altitude: 1675-1745m
Varietals: Typica, Catuai, Bourbon
Lot Size: 30 bags (69kg)
Processing: Fully Washed and Patio Dried
Farm Size: 10 Hectares (24 Acres)
Total Production: 150 46kg (102lbs) bags of Parchment
Rainfall: 900mm (35 inches) per year
Water supply: Rainfall is the only water supply in the region
Shade Trees: Cujes and Grabileas
Owner: Santos Moran
Santa Catarina
San Martin Jilotepeque, a valley over from Antigua, is a relatively new region for coffee growing in Guatemala. It is a very dry area however the soils are virgin; with coffee being the first crop ever harvested. This gives the region a great advantage due to the amounts of nutrients founds in the land. Coffee from the area tends to be exported as an ‘Antigua’ coffee. However we believe it deserves to be recognized as a region in itself.
Santos Moran grew up in a coffee farm and helped his father, the farm manager, during harvest time and when he was not in school. Always placing education before anything, he graduated and went on to study Agricultural Management in the local Institute for Higher Education. After some years of hard work, we was able to purchase a plot of land and became a coffee grower himself. In Guatemala, 95% of coffee growers are small landholders like Santos, and we believe it is key for the country and the coffee industry to support them with information, knowledge and better prices for their hard work and dedication.
Processing: Finca El Hato has been in operation since 1938, when Don Enrique Topke, purchased it. Now in the third and fourth generations, its the go-to wet mill to process these amazing coffees. The coffee goes into the siphon where the good cherries, which sink, are separated from the bad ones – which float. They then go into the de-pulper and are again sorted by density and size. They sit in fermentation tanks for 12-18 hours and then are fully washed and dried on the patios. The pulp is then transported to the Lombri-compost project where its made into organic fertilizer.
To see videos of the processing at Finca El Hato (run by Third Wave Coffee Source) click the links below:
