Sourcing Details: There are plenty of obstacles to cultivating and exporting coffee from the department of Huehuetenango. The terrain is rugged and the weather is extreme. But coffee grows well here, and families with farms that average just a few acres in size work together through cooperatives to overcome the obstacles. The cooperatives provide centralized warehouses to store dried parchment until it is time to move the coffee across the country along rough roads to Guatemala City where the coffee is prepared for export. Through cooperatives, the producers also have combined their efforts to gain technical assistance for managing their farms with the best organic practices and learned new strategies to protect their farms from the impact of climate change and focus on strategies to improve quality. Using materials, like coffee pulp, to make organic fertilizers has helped reduce the transportation costs associated with purchasing fertilizer from afar, and at the same time, creates an abundant source of fertilizer that ensures better yields and quality. Processing Details: During the harvest, each producer follows standard protocols, which includes picking cherries at optimum ripeness and hand sorting. Each family uses their own micro-mill to process their harvest, which allows for meticulous care in cherry selection, depulping, fermenting, and drying the coffee.
