Welcome to Lake Atitlán
Widely considered one of the most beautiful lakes in the world, Atitlán, which translates to "between waters” in the indigenous Nahuatl language, is formed by a steep steep volcanic crater and is the deepest lake in Central America. Coffee surrounds the high altitude lake and Los Volcanes Coffee, whose founder grew up in the area, has a strong personal connection here and makes it a point to offers curated blends from the Atitlán area to the world. This year's blend has Atitlán's characteristic juicy cup structure and flavors of ripe cherry, apricot, salted caramel, and candied pecan.
Atitlán and its Coffee
Atitlán is a high-elevation lake that sits in a deep caldera—a crater formed by a massive volcanic eruption, whose ash has been located in both Florida and Ecuador—and is surrounded by three iconic volcanoes and very steep escarpments. The region, especially the immediate communities surrounding the lake, remains largely populated by indigenous Mayan groups, including Tz'utujil and Kaqchikel.
Coffee is mostly grown on the slopes of Atitlán's southern volcanoes as well as the southeastern edges of the lake. It is a substantial source of income for many remote communities here, as well as a vehicle for environmental stewardship. Farms vary from organically grown smallholder plots diversified with subsistence crops to larger more commercial estates managed by European descendants. The area is truly a complex and historic place. Not surprisingly Lake Atitlán is recognized by Anacafé, Guatemala's national coffee sector, as one of the country's designated coffee terroirs.
Los Volcanes Coffee
Los Volcanes is a tight-knit processing and exporting team who expertise in agronomy and processing is interwoven throughout Guatemala, thanks to their many years of experience as cuppers, roasters, exporters, relationship managers, and educators. Indeed, the name “Los Volcanes” appears on a wide variety of coffees Royal imports each year.
The founding team at Los Volcanes is known for breaking down a single farm’s harvest into hundreds of data points (compost formulas, genetics, shade variance, picking rates, fermentation times and temperatures, drying styles, and on and on) and re-building custom harvesting protocols for farm managers based on their experience and cupping acumen.
Naturally, over time, Los Volcanes began to co-manage farms with their supplier partners. Finally, a few years ago they took over the operation of a large-scale wet mill in Antigua, complete with adjacent coffee farm, and moved their headquarters there from Guatemala City. They now centrally process cherry from dozens of select farms and smallholder communities, bringing their fermentation precision to an unprecedented scale, and building incredibly delicious, affordable macro lots that present refined terroirs and consistent preparation.
“Farms of Atitlán” is a flagship coffee program created by Los Volcanes Coffee to showcase what they consider to be a “true” terroir of Atitlán's surrounding volcanic highlands—something that in their experience can only be achieved by blending different producers together. As processors and millers, Los Volcanes has access to a wide variety of producers, from historic lakeside estates to smallholders high on the neighboring volcanic slopes.
Processing in Antigua
At Los Volcanes’ wet mill in Antigua, cherry is delivered daily throughout harvest. Upon delivery it is sorted for uniformity, depulped, and fermented for up to 48 hours in a covered, temperature-controlled warehouse of ceramic tanks. Los Volcanes employs dedicated processing managers calibrated to a combination of temperature and smell to manage precise degrees of fermentation and maintain consistency across batches of varying volumes, temperatures, and humidity levels.
After fermentation is complete, parchment is passed through a pressurized water siphon for cleaning and density grading, and then dried on the site’s large patio or in mechanical dryers. As batches of parchment finish drying throughout the harvest, the Los Volcanes team works with each individual lot in their cupping lab, blind-tasting coffee from the smallest and most remote producers next to that of the largest and most established. “Farms of Atitlán” is a series of small blends made this way. Although subtly different from one another, all harmoniously evoke the best attributes a roaster can find in Atitlán coffees: juicy stone fruit acidity, syrupy textures and a sweet earthy complexity.
