About This Coffee
Benjamin Donado and his family have operated Plan del Guayabo since 1990. When the Donados purchased the land, it was predominately forest. The many Guava trees growing across the property was what inspired the farm’s name, which means “fields of guava.”
Volcan de Suchitan is a remote region and farmers typically sell to collectors who sell to regional processing facilities. By working more closely with farmers, we are able to maintain greater traceability, bring higher returns to farmers and continue to work them year after to year to improve coffee quality.
Cultivation
The estate’s terrain is steep, but the Donados were sure that the high altitude and rich soil was the ideal place to grow coffee. More than 3 decades since purchasing the farm, the Donados still cultivate coffee on their 72 hectares.
The high altitudes, rich soil and temperate weather at Plan del Guayabo Estate are perfect for cultivating the coveted, complex flavors we love in their coffees.
Harvest & Post-Harvest
For the first 8 years, the Donados sold their harvest as cherry but, in 1999, the family built their own wet mill and drying patios to enable them to sell their harvest as parchment. As their production grew, so too did the wet mill. Today, they can handle over 750 bags of cherry each day.
Selling as parchment enables the Donados to capture the value addition from processing and receive higher prices. It also helps them maintain traceability back to their farm and grow their name recognition.
Coffee is selectively handpicked and processed on their farm. Cherry is floated to remove any underripe cherry and then pulped. Coffee is fermented in tanks for 36 hours and then washed in clean water. Parchment is dried on cement patios for 8 to 18 days. Parchment is raked frequently to ensure even drying.
About Pacamara
The Institute for Coffee Research (ISIC) created the Pacamara hybrid in El Salvador in the 1950s. The variety is a cross of Pacas (a Bourbon mutation) and Maragogype. Pacamara is relatively short with high productivity and is prized for its large cherries. Maragogype is a natural mutation of Typica that’s known for especially large beans. Pacamara's name comes from the first 4 letters of each parent.
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.