Collection: GUATEMALA COFFEE LIST

El Socorro recently won 1st Place in the Guatemala Cup of Excellence for a Geisha coffee. This excellent farm produces multiple varieties including this Yellow Bourbon, Pacamara, Maracaturra and several others. The multi award winning farm is located within a half hour of Guatemala City, in the town of Palencia. The land was bought by Mario de la Cerda in 1960 as part of Hacienda San Guayaba, and later split off to become a separately identified property. Today, both farms are owned and operated by a father and son team, Juan and Juan Diego de la Cerda. The El Socorro farm is certified by Rainforest Alliance, and all wet mill, drying and milling is done on site. The farm is a total of 700 hectares, but only 85 are used for coffee production. A like amount of land is used for dairy farming, and the balance is a nature reserve for wild regional species and migratory birds.
Of note is the farm's unusual and highly effective processing technique for all of their coffee. The farm is at a high altitude, and can get very hot during the day. By contrast, the natural springs on the farm used in the wet mill provide very cold water. Juan and Juan Diego came to feel that plunging the hot, freshly harvested cherries into the cold spring water was causing two problems: shock and extended fermentation time, both of which they felt to be injurious to the final cup. Instead, they experimented with washing the harvested coffee in warm water, settling on a temperature nearly the same as the cherries' internal temperature (about 100 degrees F). This eased the cherries into a gradual cooling period and reduced the fermentation cycle to a 24-48 hour time span. The result is a striking, intensely fruity and floral profile.