Caturra

Juan Pablo Garcia

Juan Pablo Garcia grows coffee just outside the town of Mesté, located in the Huista micro-region of Huehuetenango, Guatemala. The Huista area has been a favourite of ours in recent years, producing a majority of our picks from the wider Huehuetenango region. Zooming in even further, Nadine Rasch of Primavera, our partner in the region, tells us that many of her favourite coffees year after year come from the area around the small village of Mesté, where many farmers refer to their farms simply as Finca Mesté. Juan Pablo has owned his ‘Finca Mesté’ since the 1980’s. He emigrated to the coast of Guatemala looking for work, but instead was introduced to coffee, moving back to his native Huehuetenango and planting his farm. There was no vehicle access to the land, so he and his family had to carry the coffee seedlings up to the farm on their backs. Juan Pablo is now 67 years old, and tends his 1.3 hectares of land together with his wife, son and daughter-in-law. A true family business, Juan Pablo’s recent focus in quality is an attempt to provide a better future in coffee for his children.

This lot is a washed processed Caturra, with a fermentation protocol shaped mainly by practical considerations. The team at the farm are rather small, so they can only start processing in the evening, after picking is complete. This means a long, slow overnight fermentation, often reaching almost 40 hours. The coffee is then washed thoroughly, and dried on patios, turning very often to aid in an even drying. Juan Pablo believes that keeping the team small, and only working with people who are motivated to maintain quality, is a big reason why his coffees have improved so much in recent years. The cup profile here is driven by soft stewed fruits, with some rich sweetness enhanced by the long fermentation. Together, the effect is of a soft berry flavoured yoghurt.