notes of pecan pie, dried apple, and vanilla
region: huehuetenango
farm: quejna
town: aldea com, jacaltenango
producer: aracely perez
varietals: caturra, pache
process: washed, sun-dried on patio
elevation: 1700-1800 masl
importer: primavera coffee importers
from primavera:
Aracely lives with her parents and siblings in Aldea Com, and it was her father who taught her all about growing coffee from a young age. When he passed along this small parcel to Aracely, she decided to continue producing coffee along with her family members.
This parcel is located a long way from the home, so Aracely and her family depulp the coffee on the parcel right after picking. This also makes it easier to spread the pulp on the plants as an organic fertilizer. The coffee is placed in buckets to move it to the home wet mill at about 2000 meters, where it ferments until it has reached a total fermentation time of 24-32 hours. The coffee is washed in cement tanks and then placed in the sun to dry for about 4 days, where the family moves it each hour in order to ensure thorough and even drying.
Aracely says, "As a woman coffee grower, sometimes it’s more complicated to do all the activities needed to produce the coffee. But my family helps me and that’s how we’re able to keep up with the coffee farms. The biggest difficulty is the distance between our home and this parcel of land; the costs of production are higher for us due to this distance. In spite of this, we are still working to improve our coffee and offer a high quality product."