Experiencing Coffee’s Challenges Through a Guatemalan Lens

Travel is limited due to the steep mountainsides and few roads, funnelling life in to gullies and channels that cut in between with houses somewhat sporadically appearing along the way. A lot of these houses are in a state of renewal, with bay fronted tiled facades with connecting balcony showing those with family in the US sending money back in the form of remittances, contributing to the near 20% of Guatemala’s GDP these form according to the International Monetary Fund. As the country with the largest economy in Central America, it remains one of the poorest too with some large discrepancies between the haves and have nots.  

Guatemala has a long history with coffee dating back to around the 1850’s when it was probably introduced by Jesuits. With 125,000 producing families it covers around 3.5% of the country and ranks 9th in the world according to ICO figures (Guatemala actually pulled out of the ICO following the low prices in 2020. It claimed a lack of action by the ICO for failing to prevent the record lows). 98% of coffee is shade-grown, and 45,679 hectares are produced sustainably and profitably, according to Anacafe’s figures from Sept 2024.  

Fedecocagua

With all this in mind, and several hours of travel behind me, I arrived to Cooperativa Todosanterita. It’s easy to disappear down a hole with facts and counter-facts, figures and stats and concerns around safety and travel, but all that was instantly forgotten with an incredibly warm welcome. It pulls it all back to the human side and you remember what this is really about when you are invited in, given food and coffee and sit around for a chat.  

The cooperatives are lesser visited these days, the opinions there is that buyers are scared of paying the high prices and so looking to avoid any contact as a way of distancing themselves, so visitors are more than appreciated when they arrive. For me it was a chance to say hello to faces I have seen in previous pictures and watch develop, as well as reaffirm our commitment to buying great coffee. The two photos below are of Cipriano Mendoza, the left from my trip and the right from Tom’s trip in 2022. 

High prices are seen as a beneficial thing here for the pickers that work, as they are passed on rather than being kept exclusively by any producer. Costs in general have risen though, and so there are no burning plans for spending. There was a reasonable amount of discussion though as to when the spending starts, how that might look, and an apprehensiveness that farm regeneration on a large scale could just repeat the boom bust cycle with a glut of coffee in 5 years’ time.  Where the weather is changing and becoming too hot for coffee, it is being replaced by corn, so perhaps the change of incoming will be funnelled to crop diversification instead. The area around Todo Santos is also famous for its potatoes, so has other options they could switch to.  

Other issues they face are a diminishing number of men. The pandemic had an impact here, but so too has emigration. This is causing a fresh approach to cultural norms, where women were not able to traditionally take over the running of farms. They are now supported in doing so and have a higher position in the management structure of the cooperative, too, which has both been well received and successful.  

An impact of this emigration is a reticence to change previous agronomical practises. There are few nurseries here, and these have the additional challenges that the old varietals are the ones that are known and trusted. Bourbon used to be common in Guatemala but took a pounding from rust in the early 20-tens, impacting 59-70% of coffee lands. The current F1 varietals are not common, with those that are in the field having been supplied and paid for by Starbucks. Caturra, Catuai, Catimor, San Ramon and Arabigo were given as the most common varietals now, though I saw a lot of Anacafe14 too which is high yielding in comparison.  

Coffee trees in the nurseries are grown for longer, and remain in the larger plastic bags, with the smaller biodegradable type being rejected. Resources for more coffee education are thin, and so producers are sticking to what they know rather than taking chances- most feel they have been here before and treat everything with a good dose of scepticism.  

Cipriano Mendoza, owner of the first farm we visited remained cheerful and optimistic though. 2025 is an off year for production, but his yields were good and level with expectations. He grows Caturra, Typica, Marsellesa, Anacafe14 and Bourbon in a mix in the field to slow down or stop any infections that may come through.  

Well shaded, and 100% shade grown, the Typica will ripen first with the rest ripening around the same time. The farm gets two rounds of picking. The sandy soil helps to retain moisture without being too damp, and pruning is done via observing the runners for a year, then selecting the two most promising and stumping the tree. This removes the opportunity for the runners to not deliver and is seen as shortening the non-productive time of the tree. 

Moving up the mountain, Don Juan was proud to show us his farm, that had a glowing report from his RFA audit the previous year. He feels the certification is important to maintain and is happy to sacrifice any harvest from a tree that has an animal or insect living in it. This is seen as a sign of a healthy forest, which will benefit the farm as a whole. He grows both green- and red-tip Catimor, fermenting the picked cherry overnight before spreading it out on the concrete patio. In the hot sun here, it takes only 3 days to dry, so turnover is fast. He was considering investing in the farm, but wary that if he has learnt anything, it is that you do not know what the future holds. 

The journey back to Huehue illustrated clearly further issues the coffee industry faced. The roads here are extremely limited in where they can go due to the topography, and were not in good condition. These were therefore being repaired (some sections are not even tarmacked), which required the road to be closed. As the only road there though it was also open, so the tailbacks were horrendous and made worse with the camions barging past as much as they could too. This drew various amounts of side-eyes with the phrase ‘Guatemala’ being uttered to wry smiles. 

Switching across to Antigua, the experience could hardly be more different. A World Heritage Site, it was the capital of Guatemala a number of times, each being destroyed by either earthquakes (x2) or fire due to uprising (x1) before finally being moved to where Guatemala City is now. The old town stubbornly remained, and switched its name from Santiago de Guatemala to La Antigua Guatemala, becoming Antigua as we know it now. Many ruins remain, and it is a beautiful, colourful backdrop to a Denomination of Origin protected area for coffee.  

In fact, it was coffee that took the credit for reviving the area with agricultural revival bringing new investment in. It was also known for being the centre for the exportation of religious images and statues to the rest of the American continent and so it was truly fitting to be there during Semana Santa, celebrated with flowers and parades for the month preceding Easter.  

Los Volcanes Coffee

Meeting up with Los Volcanes provided a chance to look at the other side of issues facing the coffee industry. With their own research and educational farm and beneficio, there is a heavy focus here on varietal development and processing expertise.  

For the last 10 years, they have been working on organic agriculture, to the point that they are now happy with it. The focus is on microbial defences for both the soil and plants and peeling back the layers in order to achieve the results they are aiming for. This has included building their own pathology lab to see what is going on and more effectively control it.  

All natural parts from the farm that are not needed are used to make fertilizers. Covered and monitored in batches, the batch is 50% moisture, and the heat from fermentation that occurs pasteurises it. That kills the pathogens, but microorganisms they do want still survive in this situation. When ready, a portion is put in a barrel, diluted, aerated with oxygen and then this potent mix is used as a fuel to grow the required microbes and then this is the fertilizer. How do they know which microbes to grow? This is not an off-the-shelf mix. A study is done in the field for the exact mix each area needs, and then this defines the mix that is grown in the solution. No over fertilisation, but the exact mix for the right area. Clever stuff.  

So, what about the varietals? With times of high prices normally seeing an explosion of coffee being planted, it’s important to get the right plants in place, as these will live for 30+ years, and is a big job (and cost) to replace. These are being studied too. In fact, the World Coffee Research trial nursery is located here (Currently lots of Geishas, interesting!) Volcanes though have a few studies on the go. One is a renewed look at shade growing. This is removing a lot of the Grevillea that is not native (it’s from Australia), and replacing it with native trees. These are then able to be better placed, with the current field being reorientated to get the ideal sunlight in its exact location – so as it cuts through the volcanoes surrounding Antigua, the refraction and intensity is understood and controlled.  

Now you may not think a bush really minds too much about that. The intention here is to have almost espaliers of coffee, with a change to the typical pruning practises and sacrificing some of the plant to promote the lateral growth. It’s important to note too that in this area, the drought resistant varietals are being favoured as Antigua is drier than Coban for example. 

The aim is to get a density of 35lb per plant, and they are currently achieving around 18lb in the early stages with Villa Sarchi. This is already over four times the yield we were already given as the average for the country. There are experiments with Topazio, Arara and Paraiso (watch out for that one, it’s doing well), but in total, 16 varietals were selected for testing. Again, this is extra to WCR, and marks a considerable investment by Los Volcanes in understanding coffee.  

Not limiting themselves to the growing of coffee, the processing is also very well controlled. Cherry is collected from the farms that want to sell to Volcanes and trucked to the beneficio. This is in the evenings, but times are understood from each farm so that when they arrive, fermentation is controlled. Even in the truck cherries are breaking down, so it cannot be a one size fits all process when cherry reaches the fermentation tanks.  

There are 12 tanks in total, and factoring in the density too helps set the fermentation time actually needed. They do not use Brix as a measurement of ripeness here as like Daterra in Brazil, they found that cherry sugar levels are not an accurate indicator of bean ripeness. The tanks are also temperature-controlled, so the fermentation occurs at a consistent rate. Coffee is then pre-dried before heading to the concrete patios. The thermal properties of concrete mean that the beans will periodically be piled up and covered to allow moisture levels to stabilise throughout the batch and prevent overheating. In the hot sun, concrete can spike 10 degrees in 30 mins, so it needs to be monitored. Something like the hydraulic brick of older patios is better, with slower heating and longer retention, but this is not so common anymore. 

Once the beans are close to the final moisture content, they are moved to guardiolas for finishing, so they can be precisely controlled. This means a workable air heat of 30 degrees, in 6-8 hour maximum runs.  

The dry mill is further away. This does not mean a drop in details though. Coffee arriving has Guardiolas available in case of any bad weather damage or to be able to soak up the excess volume in peak season. It then passes through a destoner before milling, and then progressing to density splitters that first of all ‘refine’ the coffee by doing a basic density splitting, and then a much more accurate density splitting after this. The narrowing of the field before the final result has produced a better result, with more consistent sizing and an increase in yield of 7%-8%. There is the usual colour sorters here as you would expect, and the coffee then goes through another destoning process to ensure it is as clean as it could be.  

There is a small cupping lab at the dry mill staffed by lifetime cupper Israel Lopez, who acts as the first line of defence in all coffees coming out. Final cuppings are done at the Beneficio in Antigua with a team of 5 cuppers. The dry mill has lower moisture than Antigua too, so is best placed for storage, and all the stuffing occurs here as well.  

With high prices and lots of political change globally, perhaps some of the pertinent issues in coffee have been thrust to the fore more than they have been previously. It’s easy to catastrophise these, or write them off as inconsequential, but at the end of the day, Guatemala served as a reminder that it is people that are involved here, day in, day out, and success often takes years to make. 

Relationships that have lasted decades can still be as rewarding as when they were started, and yet there is always something new happening that is rewriting the industry. Heritage is important, and it was nice to see Volcanes focussing on washed coffees (they do not do naturals), in line with the history Antigua has with coffee and the denomination of origin.  

There is a huge amount of variety within that heritage too, and to see that adapt whilst being maintained with the Mam of Todosanterita and other areas of Huehuetenango demonstrate that there really is a coffee for all. You just have to know where to look.