About This Coffee
Growing high-quality coffees has enabled Francisco Quiñonez to provide a good life for his family. He inherited Finca El Cerro from his parents. Today, his oldest son is studying agronomy and plans to take over the farm when Francisco retires. His younger son is studying architecture and his daughter, medicine.
In addition to coffee, Francisco also loves sports. He has a gym in the nearby town, San Miguel Dueñas, where he offers weightlifting classes several days a week.
Cultivation
Despite the dry climate, Finca El Cerro is verdant with a variety of local species including guachipilin and graviela trees for shade and plants like tomatoes and avocados for the family’s consumption. Francisco also practices permaculture and allows some beneficial weeds to grow on the farm.
Harvest & Post-Harvest
Cherry is selectively handpicked and floated to remove any underripes. Ripe, red cherry is pulped and fermented in tiled fermentation tanks for 36 hours. Following fermentation, parchment is washed in clean water and laid on raised beds to dry. Parchment is raked frequently to ensure even drying.
About Antigua
Antigua has historically been Guatemala’s best-known coffee-growing region. The climate and land are perfect for coffee cultivation. The soil is volcanic with frequent eruptions from the nearby Volan Fuego adding a dust of mineral ash from time to time. Humidity is relatively low but constant. Finally, the region gets lots of sun year-round but has those cool nights that assist slow cherry development and are so important to specialty coffee.
Antiguan growers can sometimes fetch high prices due to the fame of the region's coffee. Nonetheless, more and more farms have found it difficult to continue farming, particularly when land in the region is at a premium. Antigua lies not far from the capital city of Guatemala, making it particularly attractive for second homes or even for commuters. Many farms have diminished greatly in size over the last two decades or disappeared altogether, eaten away by golf courses and housing developments. Nonetheless, Antigua persists and still produces exquisite coffees along with great blend components.
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.