On my first trip to Guatemala I was lucky enough to meet Andres.
Andres is a coffee farmer in Antigua, Guatemala. A well-known tourist destination and the secret coffee capital of the country.
Andres runs his plantation as a small family farmer. He looks after the demanding plants all year round, which are located in a prime sunny spot at the foot of a volcano.
When I visited his plantation, Andres showed me his great expertise in coffee cultivation. He could be a teacher at a university; he knows everything there is to know about coffee cultivation. He explains things well and clearly.
We help with the harvest of the ripe coffee beans. Like the grape harvest for us, the coffee harvest is an event in which the whole family and many friends are happy to help.
Back at his production facility, Andres shows me the many machines that are necessary to process the beans. Peeling, drying, polishing, sorting... many steps are necessary to get the best coffee.
His son operates the machines, he will continue to manage his father's plantation and already represents the next generation of coffee farmers who are already waiting for their time with new ideas and plans.
After our work is done, we finally sit down together to have a leisurely coffee. But wait! It's not that time yet. Before we can drink the coffee, we have to prepare it. Andre's wife Emma does this in the traditional way. The coffee is crushed and ground on a stone slab with a stone mortar. Luckily Emma takes on the task, I tried but I probably wouldn't be ready until morning coffee the next day.
After we were able to convince ourselves of the excellent quality of the coffee and the effort behind it, we did not leave Andres without a few bags of his specialty coffee in our “luggage”, which we have since been able to enjoy here at home in our house variety LA PRIMERA TAZA.
