I would like to explain the difference between Guatemala’s Handmade Coffee and the rest we drink.

Guatemala Handmade Coffee starts with harvesting by hand, the green beans carried from the fields by hand. Premium Guatemala Coffee is processed most from raw beans to drying by hand.

Water is used to move and ferment the Coffee Beans. The drying of Green beans is by hand, bags are carried to drying patios and hourly for 5 days, the coffee is raked by hand using wooden rakes.

Women then pick through the dried beans to remove any trash or other beans that are not of the right size. Once sorted the beans are placed in 159-pound sacks by hand and carried to a warehouse for storage till the time of sale.

Handmade Coffee is made into magic during the roasting process by a mechanical device, the art behind great coffee roasting is the knowledge of the roaster, the variety, the size of beans the time for the roast. Once a batch is roasted the beans are cooled and then bagged by hand in either 12 ounces or one-pound bags.

The difference between our Coffee and what you drink?

The coffee most of us experience has been processed as much as possible with mechanical process, then the beans are mixed with other varieties, this would be like mixing red and white wine.

A lot is made about FAIR Trade Coffee, buy direct, and support local growers the reality is these websites are middlemen paying growers and roaster pennies on the pound compared to the huge profits they rake in.

A website called Ethical Fashion Guatemala has made a huge dent in providing consumers with direct access to growers and roasters in Central America.  You will find on the Ethical Shop a sampling of growers they support by providing DHL Express Services worldwide.

https://ethicalfashionguatemala.com/

Lake Atitlan Tours offers coffee tours to a number of local coffee producers around Lake Atitlan and Antigua. If you are coming to Guatemala and love coffee, these tours provide you with a first-hand experience from picking up to sipping great Guatemala Coffee.