Coffee from Guatemala, a fast-growing country for specialty coffee

Felipe Contreras, in his early thirties, jovial and outgoing, embodies the young generation of Guatemalan growers who have decided to do things differently from their fathers. Gone are the days of chemicals, deforestation and the race for yields, for commercial coffees sold for scrap.

Instead, they use “natural phytosanitary products” and homemade fertilizers produced in the farm's biofactory, grow large varieties under forest cover, and use controlled fermentations that let nature express itself with finesse.

In just a few years, this declining farm has become a magnificent succession of forested hillside plots, planted with noble varieties - typica, geisha and caturra.

José leaves no one indifferent. He's tall, dry and impatient, his eyes are steely, he gets straight to the point and expresses himself with restrained energy.

It took such a personality to transform a dry mountain devastated by 30 years of agrochemical corn cultivation into a productive forest under which Guatemala's finest Geisha and Pacamara trees flourish. A titanic task, designed to install sustainable, fertile agriculture, and to bring out champion coffees that shine every year at the Cup of Excellence, with a first-place finish in 2022.