Coffee Farms

Coffee Farm Trip - Guatemala

Last January, several of us traveled to Guatemala to visit coffee farms where Good Earth coffee is grown. In Guatemala, we were graciously hosted by Johann and Holly Nottebohm of Transcafe. We cupped coffee with them in their Guatemala City offices, and then drove 8 hours to Nueva Granada Estate in the San Marco Region of western Guatemala. The higher elevations of this estate are beautiful and lush, with stunning views of volcanoes. In addition to coffee, the farm boasts tall macadamia nut trees along the winding cobblestone roads.

The highest elevation of Nueva Granada under cultivation is Monte Cristo, at about 1,500 meters. The Monte Cristo Estate covers 550 acres, including 150 acres of untouched wild forest. The remainder is being replanted with Bourbon, Geisha, Caturra and Catui varietals. At Monte Cristo we saw families harvesting the last of this season’s coffee cherries, in a peaceful and beautiful setting. There is no mechanized work associated with harvesting; the sounds of families chatting, girls giggling, and birds singing filled the early morning air.

By the time of our visit in late January, most of Monte Cristo’s yield was already dried, bagged and stored in the farm’s large warehouse. Monte Cristo is currently yielding about 550 bags of coffee, at 152 lbs/bag. We have secured 275 bags, or 41,800 lbs of Nueva Granada’s high elevation coffee for use in our Latin America Estate Blend.

While we were on the Nueva Granada Estate, we were treated to a thorough tour of the wet and dry mills, where all of the farm’s harvest is processed. We saw farm workers caring for every aspect of our coffee, from the cultivating and grafting of seedlings in the farm nursery, to the hand-harvesting, to the milling and storing of the coffee beans. We also toured the community in which the farm workers live – right there on the farm. We saw their clinic, which provides basic health care information and some treatment; the elementary school buildings; the outdoor, community laundry; and some family accommodations. I am pleased to say these were all well-built and cared-for facilities offering the farm families a standard of living much higher than what we observed off the farm.

It was a pleasure seeing the source of our coffee, and the care and pride of everyone we met on the farm. It was even more pleasing to see how our direct trade relationship helps foster a community of people in Guatemala.