| The producers of Huehuetenango Coffee enjoy the ideal geographic conditions for cultivating coffee of the highest quality. Altitude, in particular, lends exceptional body to the final cup, and all of the Presidium growers cultivate at an altitude between 1,500 and 2,000 meters (roughly 5,000 to 6,500 feet). However, the quality of the coffee depends not only on geography, but also on a long chain of cafefully-executed steps. To produce a good cup of coffee is not as simple as one would imagine; the production of green coffee (know as "café oro" or "café verde") is a long, complicated, trying, expensive, and delicate process. During the harvest, it's not uncommon for a coffee farmer to work 20 hours a day harvesting, depulping, washing, and drying coffee. The process requires constant attention, because the coffee can easily spoil.
The Presidium producers adhere to a strict production protocol that takes into account the quality of the final product, the health of the local environment, and the well-being of the producers and their families. Through capacity-building workshops and technical assistence from the project, the small producers are gaining a better understanding of the factors that affect the quality of the coffee. A primary focus of the project is quality. By producing the finest-quality coffee, the growers can win long-term clients that are willing to pay a fair price for meticulously-produced coffee. In the communities of the Presidium project, coffee is a way of life. The daily life and the local economy center around the cultivation, production, and sale of coffee. Even though sometimes it would be easier for the coffee farmers to make a living if they simply riped up their coffee groves and planted vegetables for export, they don't because coffee is all they know, and it runs in their blood. As one small grower from San Pedro Necta said, "here, the kids grow up nursing on coffee." The Huehuetenango Coffee Presidium Project hopes to bring light to the realities of the lives of the small coffee farmers of highland Guatemala and to help build direct relationships among the producers, co-producers, and final consumers. |
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| The Coffee Grove | ||
| The Harvest | ||
| First Selection | ||
| Depulping | ||
| The Ferment | ||
| The Wash | ||
| Sun Drying | ||
| Storing | ||
| "Gold" Coffee | ||
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Here we present you with a brief description of how coffee is produced by the Huehuetenango Coffee Presidium producers. Our hope is to give you an appreciation for the hard and careful work it takes to make a simple cup of coffee. | |
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| THE COFFEE GROVE
The most common varieties cultivated by Presidium growers are Bourbon, Caturra, Pache Rojo, and Arabica. All coffee bushes demand a lot of attention and care. In order to keep the plants healthy and productive, a grower must fertilze the bushes two or three times a year, clear the grove of weeds and brush with a machete at least twice a year,and prune away the unproductive branches. And, of course, the grower must begin to prepare the next generation of coffee bushes.
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| THE HARVEST
The coffee harvest begins in January and can last all the way through April, depending on the area and the altitude. During the harvest, the growers work long, arduos days. It's not uncommon for a grower to wake at 5 o'clock to get ready for the harvest and to work until midnight. Mornings are usually spent picking coffee and bringing the sacks of ripe fruit down from the mountainside; afternoons are spent cleaning and processing the morning's harvest. The Presidium growers are particularly demanding when it comes to the correct ripeness of the coffee cherries: the cherry should have no hint of green, but should rather be the color of red wine. This deep burghundy color is a sign that the sugars are well developed and will lend good body to the final cup..
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