GUATEMALA

ADER RECINOS

LEMON CURD TART, HEATH BAR, CHOCOLATE TOFFEE + CINNAMON

BEAN DETAILS:

ORIGIN: Huehuetenango, La Libertad, Guatemala
PRODUCER: Ader Recinos
ELEVATION: 1790 masl
PROCESS: Washed / 24hr Fermentation / 10 days drying on cement patios
VARIETY: Caturra, Bourbon
TASTING NOTES: lemon curd tart, chocolate toffee, heath bar, cinnamon
ROAST TYPE: Light

Farm Level

Ader - Huehuetenango, Guatemala

Family Legacy and Partnership

Ader is the third generation to manage his small family farm. After working in the US for many years, he returned home to Huehuetenango to take over operations. Ader is the first in his family to implement new practices in the field and in processing, focusing on the specialty coffee market. He's been working hard for many years, and we feel very lucky to be his first direct buyer. Not only are he and his family farming old varieties at seriously high altitudes in one of the most renowned coffee regions of the world, but he is young, working completely independently, and highly motivated to implement new processes.

This is our ninth year buying from Ader and his family—we've been through a lot together, celebrating the births of two of his children and mourning losses together.

Current Challenges

This year has been challenging for many coffee producers in Guatemala, especially in Huehuetenango, given its proximity to the Mexican border. Many laborers, including those who pick cherries on coffee farms, are choosing to migrate to Mexico en route to the US in search of economic opportunity and increased safety. Fewer pickers has meant that labor costs have increased, raising the cost of coffee production and making it less economically sustainable.

Farm Management

Ader's farm is wedged on a mountain ridge that overlooks a valley very close to the border with southern Mexico (locals often use cheaper Mexican SIM cards since their phones pick up the Mexican phone towers' signal). Ader divides the farm into three sections based on altitude (and hence picking date) and processes everything separately. We purchased from his "low," "house," and "high" lots, all with intriguing differences in body and acidity.

On the farm, Ader maintains a wastewater filtration system that prevents contamination of water systems. There's a substantial amount of shade trees and volcanic rock on these steep cliffs, and Ader is an especially judicious pruner of his shade trees, mostly chalúm.

Processing Method

Cherries are selectively picked and depulped in the afternoon into a traditional concrete tank. The following morning, the coffee is washed once and then left until the following morning for final washing. At such high altitudes, nights are freezing and coffee can take a long time to ferment fully (where all the pectins have been broken down by bacteria and mucilage is detached from the parchment).

This method of washing at the halfway point removes the sugary mucilage that has detached from the cherries that ferment faster and allows full fermentation of those that take longer. The next morning, the coffee is fully washed using channels that density-sort the parchment (over- and under-ripes float and are removed).