Calahute
Sweet and balanced, with a creamy mouthfeel. Milk chocolate, stewed apple and raisin, with roast hazelnut on the finish.
Calahute is owned by the Anzueto family, who purchased the land and planted it with coffee in 1952. Today, it is managed by third-generation coffee producer Alfonso Anzueto, who inherited the farm from his father.
Calahute (which translates to “Free Deer”) is located in Huehuetenango, a stunning region located in the west of Guatemala near the border of Mexico. To reach the estate, a steep road ascends the side of El Tapón Mountain in Huehuetenango and eventually rises to the town of San Pedro Necta. The verdant hills surrounding the town centre are home to many independent farmers, who grow coffee as their primary source of income.
The estate is relatively large for this region (most of the producers in San Pedro Necta have very small farms), with 210 hectares dedicated to coffee. A number of different varieties are grown on the estate, including Bourbon, Catuai, Caturra, Pacamara, Tekisik and Typica. This lot is made up of Bourbon and Caturra.
The farm sits at an elevation of 1,300–1,500m above sea level, with an average temperature of 18–25°C, and an annual rainfall of 1,300–1,800mm. The coffee grows under the shade of Ingas and Grevillea trees which protect the coffee trees from the sun and provide valuable organic material, keeping the soil moist and well-nourished. Alfonso cares deeply about the environment, and ensures all water used during processing is recycled and treated at the estate. He also keeps bees and produces honey, having dedicated three plots to bees and built 100 boxes for them.
ABOUT HUEHUETENANGO
Huehuetenango (or HueHue as it is often called) is a stunning region located in the west of Guatemala near the border of Mexico. HueHue is known for being home to the Cuchumatanes mountain range, the highest non-volcanic mountain range in Central America, and for its vast ethnic diversity, which includes the Mam, Q’anjob’al, Chun and Jakalteko people. Before the Spanish invasion, the region was known as Xinabajul, which translates to “between ravines” in the local Mam language and is a reference to the numerous cliffs and steep hills found throughout the department. Pre-colonisation, the region’s largest city was Zaculeu (found in the outskirts of modern Huehue City), which translates to “white earth,” and whose ruins can still be visited today.
The department is also home to some of the most complex and celebrated coffees in the country, which frequently appear in the top ten of the Cup of Excellence competition. This is in part due to the incredibly high elevations that coffee can grow (up to 2,000m above sea level), thanks to the dry, hot winds that blow into the mountains from Mexico’s Tehuantepec plain and protect the region from frost. These high elevations combined with a relatively predictable climate make for exceptional quality coffee.
HOW THIS COFFEE WAS PROCESSED
Harvest time at Calahute beings in December and concludes at the end of April. Around 120 people from the surrounding villages are employed during this time, which helps sustain the local economy. These seasonal workers are trained in best-picking techniques and select only the perfectly ripe cherries. All operations at the farm are overseen by Alfonso and his manager Víctor Martínez, who has worked with the Anzueto family for many years.
This coffee was processed using the washed method at the family’s wet mill, which is was built on the farm in 1958. At the end of the day, each of the workers delivers their carefully selected coffees to the mill, where they are hand-sorted before being weighed, pulped and fermented for 24–36 hours. The beans are then washed, graded by weight in long channels, and carefully dried on patios for 7 -12 days. Because Alfonso realises the final days of drying are crucial to the long-term quality of his crop, once coffee is close to its 11% target, it is covered from direct sunlight at noon and only dried in patio once the sun begins to set.
WHY WE LOVE IT
Historically, not many micro-lots have been produced at Calahute, however, since taking over the farm Alfonso has invested more resources and efforts into lot separation, experimentation, processing and quality control, hoping to improve the quality and diversity of offerings from his farm. His dream is to become a leader in quality in the region and from the results he is already achieving, he is well on the way to succeeding at this.
