TASTE NOTES

Coffee taste notes for Santa Elisa, Guatemala: almond, brown sugar, orange, dried fruit

SANTA ELISA BACKGROUND

This coffee comes to us from longtime exporter partner Los Volcanes Coffee. We’re proud to support their work on sustainability — care for the earth and for people — in coffee production. 

Finca Santa Elisa is a 506-hectare estate near the town of San Pedro Yepocapa, in the Acatenango region of Guatemala. With 360 hectares planted with coffee, the farm employs as many as 300 harvesters — it’s an important source of income for many local residents.

Santa Elisa sits just west of two huge, active volcanoes: Acatenango and Fuego. Volcán de Fuego is one of the most active volcanoes in the world, spewing gas and ash. While this volcanic soil is good for coffee growing — it’s nutrient-dense and well-drained — the volcanic activity presents some challenges in processing coffee. Workers must wash the volcanic ash from the cherries thoroughly to avoid causing problems with the depulpers. 

Los Volcanes processed this coffee at their Antigua mill, called Beneficio La Esperanza. Workers wash the fruit from the coffee seeds, then dry the coffee on patios. The cupping lab on the mill evaluates each lot and provides feedback to farmers, continually improving quality and consistency.

H1 VARIETY

Extensive refurbishing and innovations in management have helped Santa Elisa drastically increase harvest yields. The farm has grown from producing 700 quintales of coffee cherries in 2017 to 34,000 quintales today. Santa Elisa is committed to pursuing continual improvement, actively experimenting with growing various coffee varieties. 

This lot is the result of that experimentation: it’s one of the first harvests of the H1 varietal. This varietal, also called Centroamericano, is a hybrid of the rust-resistant T5296 and Ethiopian landrace Rume Sudan. The result is a leaf rust-resistant and very high yielding tree. This agricultural experimentation is a crucial way to address the impacts of climate change already affecting coffee growers. And it produces some delicious coffees.