Huehuetenango Guatemala Arabica

The history

Guatemalan coffee, rst introduced to the country by the Jesuit fathers in 1773, ranks amongst the best in the world. Huehuetenango, located at the foot of the Cuchumatanes, is the highest non-volcanic mountain in Central America and one of the areas most suited to co ee farming. Here, the warm air currents blowing from the Isthmus of Tehuatepec meet the cold air from the Cuchumatanes mountains, making it possible to grow co ee up to an altitude of 1900 metres. The best coffee is indeed produced at the highest altitudes. Huehuetenango was the capital of the Mamkingdom until the Spanish conquest in 1525. Located in the north-western part of Guatemala on the borders with Mexico, this territory has an altitude between 850 and 3700 metres and boasts an extraordinary variety of ecosystems (from subtropical wet forest to pinewood). Indigenous populations make up the large majority of the inhabitants and descend from di erent Maya tribes, each with their own distinctive culture and language. Following centuries of social exclusion and the international crisis of coffee prices in the early 2000s these populations now rank amongst the poorest in Central America. In Huehuetenango, coffee is practically a monoculture and the region’s entire economy relies on its export. The only way out of this unfavourable situation is diversi cation: this means focussing on high altitude, high-quality coffee and introducing di erent products in less suitable areas. Coffee is harvested by hand: the cherries are picked one by one and placed in wicker baskets tied to the hips. The beans are manually extracted from the berries by means of a delicate fermentation process which starts within four hours of harvesting and lasts 24 to 36 hours. After de-pulping, the grains are left to dry in the sun for a minimum of three days. During this time, they are continuously turned over using a rake.