Guatemala El Sarral - 5 lb Bag

After selective handpicking, cherry from Finca El Sarral is delivered to the wet mill at its neighboring Vides58 farm, Finca La Bolsa. Cherry is pulped and then dry fermented for 24 to 36 hours. Parchment is then washed in clean water and dried using a mixture of sun drying on a patio and a mechanical Guardiola dryer. It takes a total of 10 to 12 days for parchment to dry fully.

Jorge Vides, patriarch of the Vides58 family-ownedexporter, purchased his first coffee farm, Finca La Bolsa,in 1958. FInca La Bolsa shares a borderwith Finca El Sarral, the Vides58 farm where this coffeewas cultivated. 

Jorge was the kind of man who poured his heart intoeverything he did. In addition to cultivating coffee, Jorgealso worked full-time as a physician. In the beginning, hesaw patients Mondays through Fridays and worked onthe farm during all other hours. He later became directorof the National Hospital of Huehuetenango, which stillbears his name today. 

In addition to producing coffee and saving lives throughmedicine, Jorge founded a school on the farm in 1980.The school, authorized by the National Ministry forEducation, is still educating young people in thecommunity to this day. 

In 2001, Jorge and his children and grandchildrendecided to transition the farm towards entirely growingspecialty coffee. In 2002, coffee from Vides58 won2 place in the Guatemalan Cup of Excellence. 

Vides58 also established a joint program withAssociation Coffee Care, an organization dedicated toreducing instances of child labor by offering educationaland recreational programs to children aged 2 to 14. 

Today, Vides58 is as family-owned as ever. They manageseveral farms, including Finca La Bolsaand Finca El Sarral. 

Huehuetenango is well-known for its high altitude andconsistent weather patterns. The region lies at a nexusof hot air sweeping eastwards from the Plains ofTehuantepec in Oaxaca, Mexico and cool air rushingdown from the Cuchumantanes Mountains. The meetingof this hot and cold air creates a microclimate that keepsfrost in check and enables coff ee cultivation at higheraltitudes. Coff ee production at 2,000 meters above sealevel here is common. These conditions are perfect forproducing the sparkling acidity and distinctive fruitfl avors of the region.

Guatemala boasts a variety of growing regions andconditions that produce spectacular coffees. Today, thecountry is revered as a producer of some of the mostflavorful and nuanced cups worldwide. We are proud towork with several exceptional in-country partners tobring these coffees to market.

The Guatemalan coffee industry experienced a majorsetback with the 2010 appearance of Coffee Leaf Rust(CLR) in Latin America. The epidemic peaked in severityin 2012, and though CLR continues to affect some farms,Guatemala continues to produce high-quality, record-breaking coffees. In 2017, new and varied processingmethods pushed prices at the Guatemalan Cup ofExcellence contest to record highs.

The quality of coffee being produced in Guatemala isincreasing, overall, due to the diversity of the industry’sproducers. There are more and more small holderfarmers producing exceptional coffee at high altitudes.Cooperatives are becoming more appealing to so manysmallholders because they often offer farmers financingand other support for improving their farming andprocessing and are frequently able to offer higher pricesfor cherry than middlemen. Many cooperatives haveinitiated quality improvement training for farmermembers and are becoming more adept at helpingmembers market their coffee as specialty.