Tasting Notes: Peach Iced Tea, Dried Persimmon, Vibrant
Processing: Washed
Overview
Situated at 1800 meters above sea level in El Paraíso, Huehuetenango, Guatemala lies the Constanza family farm. The farm is headed up by father Jesús, but this offering comes to us from the parcels of brothers Lázaro and Daniel Constanza. This lot is made up of Caturra and Bourbon varieties. Daniel’s name is on the farm, but he has been living stateside as of late (only just returning home to Guatemala in earlier 2025) to better provide for his family, by sending funds home to support the family and their farm. Since Daniel’s absence at the farm being in the states, his wife Mary Matias Villatoro has been managing the production of coffee with the help of father-in-law Jesús and brother-in-law Lázaro. Jesús’ family began coffee farming in the mid 70’s when his father purchased the first family parcel in the lush La Libertad, Huehuetenango. Jesús then took over from his father (also named Jesús) in 1986. The tradition of producing high quality coffee runs in the blood of this family, with Jesús passing down the knowledge to his sons.
From the Field
About 10 years ago Lázaro decided to replant almost his entire lot of coffee with fresh Bourbon and Caturra seedlings, due to the fact that the plants he had at the time were very, very old. Then, about 6 years ago he planted the San Ramón varietal as well, favoring its yummy cup quality and high yield. Coffee trees actually have a peak of production anywhere between a few years after initial growth up until about 20 years of age, depending on varietal and how well the plants have been maintained. On the Constanza family farm coffee grows beneath chalúm trees, common practice for coffee production throughout Guatemala. Mary is from La Libertad–where Jesús purchased his original parcel in 1975. She also grew up in a coffee producing family, telling of how she used to go with her father who was a picker back in the day and shadow him, learning only to pick the ripest red cherries. She’s literally been doing this most of her life. Some of her earliest memories are with her father on coffee farms.
Perfect Processing
Only ripe cherries are picked for immediate processing. The coffee gets depulped the same day of harvest, at around 4-5pm. It is then left to ferment overnight, in a traditional, open concrete tank. Typically–depending on the ripeness of the harvested cherry and current weather conditions–about 24 hours later the de-pulped coffee is briefly washed with fresh water, and left with a small amount of clean water to sit in the tank until the next morning. Then that next morning, the coffee is washed in channels that density sort the parchment, where over and under-ripes are separated out. Just a couple years ago Lázaro was able to build a roof over the fermentation tank to keep it shaded and cooler during fermentation. He has also recently introduced a sorting screen to his de-pulper which aids in keeping out cherry pulp, allowing for a more homogeneous fermentation. We think the results of all this hard work translate directly into this coffee. Try for yourself!
This coffee was purchased in parchment directly from producers by our good friends at Shared Source Green Coffee Agency. They then facilitated the dry milling process and preparation for export.
