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About the Producers
Alberto is a first generation coffee farmer, and he lives with his wife and children in a small town outside Jacaltenango. Alberto, like so many other producers, worked as a migrant laborer to make enough money to afford his parcel of land; he and his family sowed the coffee seedlings on the land and minded them carefully over a period of years - with an eye on working in harmony with the local environment. He credits the cooperative he belongs to, called El Sendero, with helping them learn best practices to manage the farm and postharvest processing in order to maximize their coffee quality.
El Sendero cooperative was formed in 2016 and it has 196 coffee producing members, of which 62 are women and 134 are men. The cooperative focuses on gender equality among coffee producers and especially supports young coffee producers.
This farm is called Paya’, which means “”birth of the river”” - named for a location near the parcel of land known by this name. Paya’ is a word in the Mayan Popti language, which is spoken in and around Jacaltenango.
About the Processing
Arcoiris processing info: Alberto’s kids oversee the processing of the coffee according to strict quality standards. After the coffee is picked, the cherries are depulped usually in around 6 hours. The depulped coffee ferments without the use of water in a tank for
32 hours - a relatively long fermentation for the area, likely due to the cool microclimate.
After the fermentation is complete, the coffee is thoroughly washed to ensure that no mucilage remains. The parchment is then moved to the patio for drying. It sits in the sun for about 7 hours a day for 6 days, and the family turns it every hour to ensure thorough and even drying. After the drying stage is complete, the coffee is stored in clean sacks until it is ready to deliver.
In 2022, Alberto’s coffee won the Festival Huistlan, a coffee competition for the best coffees in the San Antonio Huista region of Huehuetenango. “
Price
The FOB price for this lot was $4.86. [FOB price is the total price of the coffee up to the point of departure from the country; it includes farmgate/price paid to the grower, in-country transportation, and the cost of processing and preparation for export. It does not include the price of freight to the US, US warehousing, US customs charges, or the cost of moving coffee with the US.]
During the harvest season from November through January, the New York C price for coffee was an average of $3.60; the $4.86 FOB price for this coffee includes a significant premium for the farmer above the C market price, which reflects the excellent quality of this coffee. After being imported to a warehouse in the consuming country, the United States, the coffee cost was $7.20/lb. The cost of the shipping from the warehouse to our roastery made our final green price $7.50.
Avg. C Price (at the time of harvest): $3.60
F.O.B Price: $4.86
Ex-Warehouse: $7.20
Final Green Price: $7.50
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