Guatemala - Familia Jiménez

ABOUT THE FARM

Pascual Jiménez is a second-generation coffee farmer from a long-standing family tradition in Buena Vista. He is a Mayan leader on a special committee of the local Mayan community in his village, well known and respected for his wisdom. Today he farms Finca Familia Jiménez with his sons and daughter-in-law. He was the first farmer in San Pedro Necta to work with Rosma Coffeelands and export his coffee through them.

The cherries are hand-picked and pulped in a drum pulper. The coffee is dry-fermented in a tank for 40 hours, then washed with clean water and run through a grading channel that separates the parchment by density.

For the first two days the parchment is spread in a very thin layer and raked often so it dries evenly. After that the layers are thickened to slow the drying down. Drying takes 8 to 10 days. Once dry, the parchment is bagged in jute sacks and sent to the mill in Huehuetenango, where it rests for about 3 months before being prepared for export.

ABOUT THE REGION

Huehuetenango is known for its high altitude and stable weather. The region sits where warm air moving east from the Tehuantepec plains in Oaxaca, Mexico, meets cold air coming down from the Cuchumatanes mountains. This creates a microclimate that prevents frost and allows coffee to be grown higher up; farms at 2,000 metres are common here. These conditions are ideal for the bright acidity and distinctive fruit flavours the region is known for.