Guatemala - Finca La Palma

Relationship : It is single farm Guatemala season at Boxx. We have been working with Primavera Green Coffee when it comes to Guatemala since our Istanbul roastery days. This year we were lucky enough to pick two coffees so we didn’t have to choose between La Esperanza and La Palma and we got both of them. Every year we showcase both their Huehuetenango blend Primavera family and at least one single farm coffee. The connections they have and the quality they provide from the region is unmatched and as 2023 SCA Sustainability Award Winner we are proud to work with them.

Country: It is estimated that the arrival of coffee to America took place in the 18th century, making its way to Guatemala by the mid-1700s to be used as an ornamental plant in the Jesuit convent "Compaña de Jesús", located in what is now known as La Antigua Guatemala. Artificial dye was invented in England, and Guatemala suffered a severe blow to its economy, which was based on the exports of indigo and cochineal. Coffee jumped as the crop that could help stabilize the economy again. Anacafé (Asociación Nacional del Café) was established in 1960 as a national coffee association, representing all coffee producers in Guatemala. %44 of Guatemala’s coffee is produced by smallholders, in 8 different regions.

• Antigua is, perhaps, Guatemala’s best-known coffee growing region. The valley around the town of Antigua (from which the region gets its name) is surrounded by three volcanoes: Agua, Fuego, and Acatenango. Every so often, Fuego—one of Guatemala’s three active volcanoes—adds a fresh dusting of mineral-rich ash to Antigua’s soil
• To the west of Antigua lies the Acatenango Valley, where coffee is grown under dense shade on steep slopes of up to 2,000 meters. 
• Of the five volcanic coffee regions of Guatemala, Atitlán’s soil is the richest in organic matter.  Ninety percent of Atitlán certified coffee is cultivated along the slopes of the dramatic volcanoes that dominate the shores of Lake Atitlán.
• Pacaya, the most active of Guatemala’s three erupting volcanoes, supplies the region with a light deposit of ash every so often, giving the soil an important mineral boost. The dry season is characterised by plenty of sunlight, and although clouds, fog, and heavy dew are common in the early morning, they burn off quickly allowing all Fraijanes Plateau to be sun-dried.
• In the Nueva Oriente region, coffee has been cultivated, almost exclusively, by small producers since the 1950s. Today, virtually every farm on the mountain has become a coffee-producing unit and what was once one of the poorest and most isolated areas of Guatemala is vibrant and growing. Rainy and cloudy, Oriente is located on a former volcanic range. Its soil is made of metamorphic rock: balanced in minerals and quite different from soils in regions which have seen volcanic activity since coffee was first planted.
• The annual precipitation in Cobán is around 3,500mm, with regular rainfall between nine and ten months of the year. Constant rain (much of it is a gentle drizzle/mist known locally as the chipichipi) means that flowering is staggered, with 8-9 flowerings per year. Due to this prolonged flowering season, coffee ripens at different stages, which means that up to 10 passes (with breaks of up to 14 days between passes) are needed to ensure that only the very ripest cherries are selected.
• The warmest of the eight coffee-growing regions, San Marcos also has the highest rainfall pattern, reaching up to 200 inches (5,000 mm). The seasonal rains come sooner than in other regions, producing the earliest flowering. As in all of Guatemala’s remote regions, most coffee in San Marcos is cultivated on farms with their own processing mills. Because of the unpredictability of rainfall during the harvest season, much of the coffee is pre-dried in the sun and finished in Guardiola (mechanical) driers.

Source: Mercanta