Guatemala Santa Barbara

We try not to keep coffee on the shelves for long, so if we don't have a particular coffee in stock, we have to replenish the order after the roasting day. We roast on Tuesdays and Thursdays, pack the coffee and send it out on Wednesdays and Fridays.

We cannot begin otherwise than: we present to you an extraordinary coffee from Guatemala. This is our type - washed, clean tasting, fruity. A very good coffee without any combination.

The beans come from twelve small producers from around the town of Santa Barbara in the department of Huehuetenango - a very mountainous area stretching from 1,600 metres above sea level. The people of our importer, 88 graines, say they have come across coffee there as high as 2,160 metres above sea level. Why is this important? Coffee obviously likes high altitudes because they allow it to mature more slowly, building up more layers of flavour and aroma. And at the same time, weather conditions - which are usually more favourable there - do not change as quickly in the face of climate change in such mountains. And this gives hope for the future of coffee.

The Santa Barbara grain comes from twelve small producers from the Mam group, part of the Mayan family. They cultivate small farms of between 0.3 and 1 hectare. They usually process the coffee on the farm, using their own or borrowed equipment. Their coffees were brought together in a blend through a neighbour, Mario Recinos.