About This Coffee
Abel Valladares has worked in coffee for most of his life. Before purchasing El Pinal Estate 20 years ago, Abel worked as an agronomical advisor to a farm of more than 1,000 hectares. When he had the chance to purchase El Pinal Estate, Abel jumped on the opportunity to have his own farm.
Since then, Abel has devoted himself to producing top-notch coffees of unique and highly sought-after varieties, including Geisha, Pacamara and Pacas.
Abel believes that the secret to El Pinal’s success is that the whole family is involved in the estate. From harvest to quality control, the Valladares family is focused on producing high-quality microlots that continue to impress their international buyers.
El Pinal Estate is also a part of ACOGUA, an association of coffee growers that support the Comité Prociegos y Sordos de Guatemala, an organization supporting deaf and blind Guatemalans. ACOGUA financially supports a health center that offers visual and hearing health services to the local community.
Harvest & Post-Harvest
Cherry is selectively handpicked and only ripe, red cherry is processed. Cherry is pulped and placed in fermentation tanks to ferment for up to 4 days. Once fermentation is complete, parchment is washed in clean water and laid on raised beds. Parchment is raked frequently to ensure even drying. It takes approximately 20 days for parchment to dry.
About Geisha
Geisha (also known as Gesha) is known for its exceptional cup quality, especially when grown at high altitudes. The variety comes from Ethiopian landrace coffees and was collected from Ethiopian coffee forests in the 1930s. The name supposedly derives from Ethiopia’s Gori Gesha forest.
There is some confusion with several genetically distinct varieties that have all been called Geisha, but the most famous variety is the Panama one. The variety was brought to Lyamungu research station in Tanzania and from there to Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE) in Central America in 1953. At CATIE, the variety was logged as T2722. CATIE distributed T2722 across Panama in the 1960s for its Coffee Leaf Rust (CLR) resistance, but its brittle branches meant it was not widely planted.
Panama Geisha reached its modern fame in 2005 when a Geisha lot won the “Best of Panama” competition and broke contemporary records at over $20/pound. DNA analysis has demonstrated that the Panama Geisha descended from T2722 is distinct and uniform. Today, Geisha is known for its delicate florals, jasmine and stone fruit.
Coffee in Guatemala
Guatemala boasts a variety of growing regions and conditions that produce spectacular coffees. Today, the country is revered as a producer of some of the most flavorful and nuanced cups worldwide. We are proud to work with several exceptional in-country partners to bring these coffees to market.
The Guatemalan coffee industry experienced a major setback with the 2010 appearance of Coffee Leaf Rust (CLR) in Latin America. The epidemic peaked in severity in 2012, and though CLR continues to affect some farms, Guatemala continues to produce high-quality, record-breaking coffees. In 2017, new and varied processing methods pushed prices at the Guatemalan Cup of Excellence contest to record highs.
The quality of coffee being produced in Guatemala is increasing, overall, due to the diversity of the industry’s producers. There are more and more small holder farmers producing exceptional coffee at high altitudes. Cooperatives are becoming more appealing to so many smallholders because they often offer farmers financing and other support for improving their farming and processing and are frequently able to offer higher prices for cherry than middlemen. Many cooperatives have initiated quality improvement training for farmer members and are becoming more adept at helping members market their coffee as specialty.