Jose Miguel grows coffee just outside the town of Meste in Huehuetenango, not far from the producer of our previous Guatemalan release, Andres Francisco.

SMALL-SCALE PRODUCER

Jose Miguel

Jose Miguel only started growing coffee relatively recently, after a lifetime in agriculture. Previously, he grew mainly potatoes, but has now been working to create high quality coffee for 8 years. He has had several challenges in this. Even in the context of the very remote region of Huehuetenango, access to Jose’s farm is difficult. He can only reach the farm on horseback, so gathering ripe cherries at harvest time is a very physical task. In order to streamline the process, Jose takes a small depulper up into the field, and removes the coffee from the cherry amongst the trees, before transporting it home for fermentation and washing. This means there is much less weight to carry back to the wet mill, and the pulp can be spread in the field as fertiliser immediately. Jose has also struggled with price fluctuations in coffee, and actually considered selling his farm at the height of the C-price crisis a few years ago. Fortunately, it was during this very harvest that he first met buyers from Primavera, our partner in the region. He was pleasantly surprised by the price he was offered, no one had paid him based on quality before. This harvest meant that Jose could keep the farm, and that we can still enjoy his coffee today. Jose’s field blend of quality varietals Caturra, Catuai and Bourbon lead to a deep sweetness, truly reminiscent of ripe fruit, with a bright berry-driven acidity.