Coffee has been grown
in Los Andes for more than a hundred years. It used to be that
the ripe coffee was sent to a neighboring estate to be processed.
In 1987 James Hazard decided to concentrate on the production
of specialty coffees (gourmet quality) and he installed a wet
mill, to process the beans as far as the dry parchment stage.
Recently a system has been added to re-circulate, and subsequently
treat, the washing water in the wet process. All the coffee pulp
and mucilage no longer causes contamination of the rivers. They
are used to produce organic fertilizer for the tea gardens. Effective
microorganisms (EM) and earthworms are used in this process.
The coffee varieties planted are principally Caturra and Catuai.
There is a laboratory for biological pest control. The trees
are sprayed with extract from the organic fertilizer, to help
with the nutrition and as a natural fungicide.
The area planted with coffee is 105 hectares. The production
is 3,000 hundred-pound bags of parchment coffee. Drying is in
the sun and with mechanical dryers. Firewood is used to produce
heat for the ovens of the dryers. The firewood comes from pruning
the shade trees, or from eucalyptus forests that have been planted
for this purpose. For the final product, Los Andes has the following
certifications: C.A.F.E. Practices (Starbucks Coffee Company)
and UTZ Certified.
If you would
like buy Los Andes roasted and ground fresh coffee, please
contact us here.
Delivered to your home or office (service currently offered only for Guatemala
City).
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