Guatemala Huehuetenango - Cafe De Mujeres
Origin: Guatemala
Region: Huehuetenango
Town: Caserío San Juan, Aldea El Palmar, San Pedro Necta
Estate: Asociación Civil Comercializadora Maya Alternativa (COMAL)
Owner: 124 Female producer-members with COMAL
Altitude: 1400-2000 masl
Varieties: Bourbon, Catuai, Caturra, Pache
Certification: Fairtrade, Organic
Grade: SHB
Processing: Fully washed
Cupping Score: 84.0
Cupping Notes: Nutty, Apple, Caramel
Medium Dark roast
This coffee from Guatemala's Huehuetenango region comes from Caserío San Juan, Aldea El Palmar, San Pedro Necta. It is produced by 124 female producer-members of the Asociación Civil Comercializadora Maya Alternativa (COMAL). Grown at an altitude of 1400-2000 masl, it is a blend of Bourbon, Catuai, Caturra and Pache varieties and is processed fully. It has been certified both Fairtrade and Organic, and is classified as SHB grade.
COMAL
With support from COMAL, the female producers who contributed to the Café de Mujeres lot focus on improving coffee quality and their farms’ environmental sustainability. They participate in livestock sharing projects, produce their own organic fertilizers, attend workshops about entrepreneurship and financial literacy and regularly renovate their rootstock to keep trees healthy and productive.
We contribute a premium from every bag of COMAL Mujeres sold to support a traveling medical and dental clinic. The medical and dental clinic, organized by the exporter, UNEX, runs 12 week-long clinics per year and serves 300+ producers in each week of operation.
The premiums from each bag of COMAL Mujeres will go specifically towards supporting women’s health. UNEX met with a doctor to determine the most impactful way to support women’s health in the communities they’re serving. Premiums from these sales will go to supplying complete vitamin tablets that will provide nutrients that are underrepresented in their diets and promote healthy, long-lasting lives.
Cultivation
While coffee is the main cash crop for these producers, they also cultivate honey, fruit trees and subsistence crops like maize and beans. They also plant trees to preserve biodiversity and protect reserves of groundwater as well as a variety of flowers and plants that attract bees and increase their honey production.
Harvest & Post-Harvest
Each producer processes and dries their own coffee on small patios. They all have their own small pulpers, fermentation tanks, washing systems and parabolic dryers. COMAL organizes the collection of dried parchment from members and delivers it to the FECCEG dry mill in Quetzaltenango. Here, the quality team analyzes each lot. Depending on the quality, it will either be kept separate and sold as a microlot or blended with other coffees from the same producer organization and quality group.
Coffee from Guatemala
- Guatemala boasts a variety of growing regions and conditions that produce spectacular coffees. Today, the country is revered as a producer of some of the most flavorful and nuanced cups worldwide. We are proud to work with several exceptional in-country partners to bring these coffees to market.
- The Guatemalan coffee industry experienced a major setback with the 2010 appearance of Coffee Leaf Rust (CLR) in Latin America. The epidemic peaked in severity in 2012, and though CLR continues to affect some farms, Guatemala continues to produce high-quality, record-breaking coffees. In 2017, new and varied processing methods pushed prices at the Guatemalan Cup of Excellence contest to record highs.
- The quality of coffee being produced in Guatemala is increasing, overall, due to the diversity of the industry’s producers. There are more and more small holder farmers producing exceptional coffee at high altitudes. Cooperatives are becoming more appealing to so many smallholders because they often offer farmers financing and other support for improving their farming and processing and are frequently able to offer higher prices for cherry than middlemen. Many cooperatives have initiated quality improvement training for farmer members and are becoming more adept at helping members market their coffee as specialty.