Vista aérea de la Finca Aurora, Cobán
Last February, Claudia Sans and Cássia Martinez had the opportunity to fly to Guatemala with one of our main green coffee suppliers. During their trip, they were able to see farms, producers, and exporters firsthand, and, above all, pre-select Guatemalan coffees for this season. This is our travel journal to Guatemala.
They tell us:
Cobán, in the heart of Guatemala, was our starting point. From there, we drove westward to Huehuetenango and then crossed the country along the coffee belt, passing through San Pedro La Laguna (Lake Atitlán), Antigua, Mataquescuintla (Jalapa), and Esquipulas (Oriente) in the southeast.
Along the way, we were amazed by countless volcanoes, Mayan ruins, the local cuisine, and, most importantly, we met with highly experienced coffee experts, each with a unique story to tell.
DAY 1
Finca Aurora – Cobán, Alta Verapaz department
22.18 ha a 1.400 msnm
Arturo Sánchez entre Claudia y Cássia
Come on with our travel journal to Guatemala. Last year we were lucky enough to purchase Finca Aurora coffees and now we get to see where the magic happens!
Finca Aurora is over 100 years old, but Aldo Anesse’s father, the current owner, bought it eight years ago.
Founded in 1887 by German immigrants, the farm is named after the female Quetzal, declared Guatemala’s national bird. In fact, the farm’s RFA* certification ensures that the surrounding forests support 157 bird species, seven of them endemic.
*Rainforest Alliance: https://www.rainforest-alliance.org/
Molino hidráulico del antiguo beneficio
Escuchando a Arturo en medio de los cafetales sombreados
It’s the first farm of its kind in terms of technologically advanced coffee production and processing. Arturo Sánchez, a farm engineer who previously worked for Anacafé, oversees the entire process from seedlings to drying and sorting the beans. He places great emphasis on soil analysis and achieving the perfect soil balance for the plants to thrive in this humid microclimate.
Inspired by the wine industry, the wet mill is made of stainless steel, which greatly facilitates cleaning and prevents contamination during fermentation and washing.
Every step of the production process is constantly analyzed and monitored, from the soil’s pH balance to the temperature and Brix levels during fermentation and the drying process. Nothing escapes Arturo’s attention!
They’re experimenting extensively with fermentation (without yeast) to achieve new flavors in the cup. According to Arturo, they’re looking for more complexity, more fruit, berries, butter (both in flavor and texture), and more intensity in the beverage. They typically combine aerobic and anaerobic fermentation, always with a minimum of 40 hours. They stir the coffee every two hours in the open tanks to prevent the temperature from rising (it’s not hot on the surface, but it can get quite warm inside the tank).
Tanque de fermentación anaeróbica
Arturo tells us that 2019 was a drier year, which translates into a higher-quality harvest in a region as humid as Cobán. Therefore, there will be more sweetness in Brix degrees due to water stress and higher bean density. Shade and soil are the two most important factors on the coffee farm, and every year they conduct soil analysis in the laboratory to achieve perfect soil balance. Each year, the reading is different; when the harvest is strong, the soil becomes weak, and they have to add macro- and micronutrients to restore the soil’s composition. They prune the coffee trees (with a low pruning shear) every year to encourage more secondary branches, so that 66% of the plot is in production and the remaining 33% is regenerating.
The coffee is mechanically pre-dried at 30°C by burning the dried parchment and then transferred to the parabolic trays. Nothing goes to waste here! The coffee pulp is also transformed into compost by Californian red worms and used as fertilizer in the fields. They also have a water recirculation system to prevent leaching and return dirty water to the environment.
In Aurora, cherry pickers are paid twice as much as in other regions of Guatemala. The harvest is done by “volunteers” who come when it suits them, but there’s never a shortage of labor. In fact, 65% of the farm’s production costs are labor.
Cafés secándose en parabólicas y parihuelas elevadas con temperatura y grado de humedad controlados
Claudia catando en el laboratorio de Finca Casa Aurora
De camino a Huehuetenango
TO BE CONTINUED!
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