Guatemala Fraijanes Finca El Tambor

Regional details:

The Fraijanes growing region is east of Guatemala City nestled between the Tecuamburro and Pacaya volcanoes. This is where you will find Fincas el Tambor and la Cancha. Totaling 185 acres, these two farms are owned and managed by Francisco Calderon and Mario Calderon, a father and son team. Once used as cattle pasture, conversion to coffee cultivation began in 2003. Today coffee is cultivated under the cover of shade trees, which is an essential tool for growing delicate heirloom varieties and rejuvenating the ecology of the land.

Processing details

During the post-harvest stage, a great deal of care is dedicated to understanding optimum ripeness before picking. The wet-mill equipment has been updated to ensure efficient processing that is ecologically responsible. After harvesting, the cherries are floated to remove less dense and damaged coffee before depulping. After depulping, the coffee is fermented and then washed to remove the mucilage. Next the coffee is gently dried on patios for a period of 2 weeks to 11 percent moisture.

Exporting details

To prepare the coffee for export, the Calderon family works with an export company called Servex, which has a longtime and trusted relationship with Royal. At the dry-mill, dried parchment is dehulled and sorted with equipment typical in most dry mills, such as gravity beds, screens and an electronic color sorter.