Slow Food is an international movement that began in Italy as an alternative to the culture of fast food, the industrial production and homogenization of foods, and the loss of food's inherent social value. The Slow Food movement aims to support small-scale producers who preserve the diversity of crop varieties and animal breeds, of agricultural practices, and of food traditions. By helping groups of small producers organize and create direct relationships with consumers and "co-producers" (such as chefs or, in this case, coffee roasters), Slow Food helps to support the livelihoods of small farmers and thus preserve the world's rich diversity of foods and food traditions.

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A Slow Food "Presidium" is an organized group of small producers of a special food product, which can be a traditional cheese from a particular village, a rare and disappearing chicken breed, or a variety of bean with unique characteristics. Presidium products tend to be those that are not productive or profitable enough to be competative in the conventional market, but that have a high social, historical, genetic, and gustatory value. In this case, the special food product is an artesanal coffee elaborated at high-altitudes by small coffee farmers in the mountains of Huehuetenango, Guatemala.

The coffee produced by the growers of the Huehuetenango Coffee Presidium has been classified as "Strictly Hard Bean" (SHB), which is most-coveted type of coffee bean, found only at high altitudes. The coffee is grown on small plots of land at a minimum of 1,500 meters (roughly 5,000 feet)and processed in the backyards of the Presidium growers. The project involves approximately 150 small growers, including independent women producers and Mam indigenous producers, who are organized through local cooperatives in three different highland communities: San Pedro Necta, La Libertad, and Todos Santos Cuchumatán (map below). For the Presidium growers, coffee is a way of life, and the dedication and care with which they produce their coffee is manifested in the final cup. Huehuetenango Presidium Coffee boasts a rich aroma, balanced acidity, a well developed body, and an aftertaste that is clean and velvety.

The objective of the Huehuetenango Coffee Presidium is to cultivate direct relationships among the coffee producers, artesan roasters, and the final consumers of this specialty coffee. The project aims to bring to light the hard work it takes to produce a good cup of coffee, in order to give the final consumer a greater appreciation for the complexity and beauty of the coffee process. The project also aims to increase awarness on the part of the producer by hosting workshops and offering technical advice to clarify all of the factors in the production process that affect the quality of the final cup. The Presidium project has developed a strict production protocol to assure that the highest standards of quality are applied, that the social and economic needs of the growers are met, and that the cultivation and production of Presidium coffee does not damage the local environment.