Guatemala Zacapa

Zacapa is often more famous for the rum brand, but in this department towards the Honduran border you can also find great coffee. The coffee we source from here through FEDECOCAGUA is an example of an Extra Prime Washed -earlier harvesting coffee from the lower altitudes that harvests first, and heralds the new season of coffee as it does.

Around seventy percent of the members of FEDECOCAGUA are from indigenous populations, and spread across many different regions including, Huehuetenango, Coban, San Marcos, Zacapa and more. Characterised by difficult economic situations, the role of secondary co-op means that they have access to credit schemes, technical support, warehousing and marketing and export of the coffee to foreign buyers. This is an important step as allows better prices to be achieved than would be typically paid by internal buyers looking for bulk lots.

For most members, coffee is their main crop and can provide 90% of their income. Most gain this through a coffee production area of around 3.2ha, with around 6ha for keeping animals, growing vegetables and fruit trees that are also used to provide shade cover for the coffee.

The lower altitude does not mean any less attention to detail. Coffee is picked ripe, pulped, fermented in water tanks and then dried – often on the flat patio rooves of the buildings perched against the hillside.