San Jeronimo
Bright and distinct, with nectarine, marmalade and red apple. Honey sweetness and a syrupy body and floral finish.
This coffee comes from a small community of farmers in a remote town called El Jicaro, which is located in the municipality of San Jeronimo, which is located in the north of Guatemala where the Sierra de Las Minas mountain range starts. Here there is a communal farm called San Miguel Pachalum which is owned by a number of small producers who share their farmland and grow coffee communally alongside other crops including beans, bananas and avocados.
This coffee comes from a small plot called El Cerron, which is managed by producer Hector Rodolfo Martinez. Hector is an integral part of the community at San Miguel Pachalum. He is passionate about specialty coffee, and has been instrumental in supporting his neighbouring farmers in improving their growing and picking methods, and therefore their coffee yield and quality.
The coffee at El Cerron grows under the shade of avocado and banana trees, as well as pine trees which are protected in the region. Nearby, cows graze on pastures – something that would be unimaginable in other coffee growing regions where coffee clings to the side of a mountain, but here the land is flatter making this a possibility for the producers. El Cerron sits at an elevation of 1,650m above sea level, and this, combined with the moist clay soil and temperate-to-cool climate means that the cherries mature very slowly, giving time for the sugars to develop and resulting in a clean, sweet and complex cup.
The harvest in San Jeronimo typically runs from January to March. The producers each process their coffee by hand using small hand pulpers. After fermention the coffee is then dried the coffee in the sun – either on raised beds or patios.
The families that produced this coffee live very simply. Many do not have electricity, and water is sourced from a natural spring. They are very industrious and self-sufficient and proud. Specialty coffee is very new for them, but they are open to learning more, and for us, this is very exciting, because they are already producing great coffee, and yet there is so much untapped potential.
One of the most progressive farmers that we met during our visit to this farm was Ipolito Iguarez (pictured above). Ipolito has invested in concrete tanks to ferment his coffee, a greenhouse to dry his coffee and even a car to get the coffee down the mountain. We are excited to work with Ipolito and Hector and hope to get individual farmer lots from them in the future as well.
WHY WE LOVE IT
This coffee comes from an exciting new region, called Baja Verapaz, which is starting to become recognised for its quality (but is yet to be formally recognised as a coffee region by Anacafe – the closest region that they recognise is Coban). We are excited about the potential for coffee in this region, and to be supporting small producers in this region who are working hard to elevate the quality of their coffee.
This micro-lot from San Jeronimo is 100% Pacamara. We first purchased this coffee in 2019 and fell in love with it (it was one of our favourite coffees for the year) and so we have purchased this coffee again. We hope that we are able to buy and grow our support for this community of producers for many years to come.
