Finca San Lorenzo, Guatemala

Tasting Notes Roast Level: Light Process: Washed Varietal: Caturra, Catuaí, Sarchimor Roaster's Notes: A tasty mix of candy floss grape, sweet and buttery sugar cookies, and a bit of orange zest and spice. Some would say it feels a little bit like Christmas, but we'll leave that up to you to decide. Farm Info Producer: Valdés Family Region: Alta Verapaz, Cobán Altitude: 1,550 masl Background Information The Valdés family have generations of coffee farming experience under their wings. San Lorenzo is the Valdés family’s second farm, purchased in 1987 as a sort of ‘little brother’ to another of our favourite Guatemala farms, Santa Isabel. Don Luis and his son - also named Luis (nicknamed ‘Wicho’) - manage the farms as general and agricultural manager, respectively. Luis’s other son, Rodrigo, helps manage Agricola Valmar, the family export business. Now the brothers’ children (Luis’s grandchildren), spend their school holidays at the farm, much as their fathers did when they were young. It is a true family business, run with love, devotion, and a lot of expertise! When Don Luis first planted Santa Isabel, Cobán didn’t necessarily have a reputation for high-quality coffee, due in part to the fact that coffee from the region must often be mechanically dried because of the humid climate. Don Luis and Wicho, however, knew that the region had more to offer. By placing their attention on improved cultivation techniques and perfecting their drying practices, they succeeded in transforming the quality of their coffee over the course of the last decade, even succeeding in placing Guatemala’s Cup of Excellence twice! San Lorenzo bears much in common with Santa Isabel – perhaps not surprising since it lies only 5 miles away! The farm’s Caturra and Catuaí production is indistinguishable in the cup from Santa Isabel’s. In addition, approximately 50% of San Lorenzo is planted under Sarchimor, a hybrid of the Costa Rican Villa Sarchi and Timor Hybrid. Thanks to its ascendant, Hibrido de Timor, the plant is resistant to coffee leaf rust and berry or stem borer. Grown at this higher altitude, the cup quality is also excellent. Forest Conservation work: 30 hectares of San Lorenzo remain under forest conservation. It is necessary to maintain this sort of forest cover, firstly, in order for the farm to be sustainable with regards to lumber. However, the family feel strongly that setting aside this large tract of land is the right amount of natural conservation to preserve wildlife in the area. In fact, throughout the farm, a very high priority is put on conservation. Although the farm isn’t organic, great care is taken with regarding to application of agrichemicals and organic composts are preferred. There is no hunting allowed anywhere on either San Lorenzo or Santa Isabel, and all forest land is managed so as to optimise native flora and fauna. Despite these efforts, maintaining forest land in this part of Guatemala is increasingly challenging. Guatemala has lost vast swaths of native woodland because of disease and insect infestation – in many cases brought on by monocropping. In particular, the pine forests of Cobán are currently under threat due to a small fly that is killing pine plantations. The fly larva eats the pine needles off of the trees and is voracious. As the needles grow back, the fly eats them again, and after a couple of cycles the tree will die. This pest has been moving towards Santa Isabel for the past three years, seemingly unstoppable. In some areas of the farm, in addition to pine there used to be many Inga trees (nitrogen fixing trees traditionally used for coffee shade cover), but Wicho and his family are now looking for native, autochthonous (cedar, nogal and liquiambar among others) trees to replace these. By establishing more diversity, the family hopes to have a forest composition similar to what existed 50 years ago. This will foster a stronger, more resilient ecosystem in the long run