

Nueva Montaña
Antonio Gonzalez’ farm in the Fraijanes region is a returning favourite, often standing out on the cupping table during our Guatemalan buying. Fraijanes is much further south than Huehuetenango, where many of the Guatemalan lots we buy are grown. The region lies much closer to the Guatemalan capital Guatemala City, so has felt the effects of urbanisation, with higher costs of production and rising land values leading to some difficulty in maintaining a profitable coffee farm.
Antonio’s farm, La Nueva Montaña, is a great example of the work that’s possible in the region, leading a move towards higher quality and differentiation in order to maintain his family business.

Together with his wife Eby Samayoa, Antonio has worked particularly hard on improving processing; intentionally creating expressions in the cup through careful use of fermentation. For the future, they hope to improve their agronomic practices to match this work, but these changes take time, gradually honing a new approach and allowing plants to adjust over several harvest seasons. For now, they work to minimise environmental contamination, and share their experience with surrounding farmers, giving tips on removing reliance on chemical inputs, making sure they too can have a successful and profitable business.

Natural Catuai
This particular lot is of the Catuai varietal, a dwarf mutation of the popular Caturra. The experience of creating high end lots, like the Maracaturra we purchased previously, has trickled down, improving Antonio’s wider work with less exotic varietals. This lot is a great example, pre-fermented in sealed plastic bags overnight for 14 hours, ready to be laid out on raised beds to dry the next day. The fermentation of this lot holds onto a juicy profile, with notes of ripe blueberry, finishing with rich brown sugar and dark chocolate.