El Xalum and La Revuelta:

From Christian

This farm has belonged to the Samayoa family since the 1800’s. It was named Belen, and it initially started producing black dye from cacti. When synthetic dyes were invented, there was no longer a market for this product, which forced the family to start anew. A few of their products were cattle, coffee, corn, beans, and other vegetables. In the mid 1900’s, the Samayoa farm was split between the family members, and land was inherited by my grandmother Carmen Samayoa. In 1995, my wife Julia and I purchased a small piece of land which we named La Revuelta. We immediately started planting only coffee and have managed the farm ever since. Then, in 2013, we began to manage El Xalum when it was given to us by Carmen. My oldest son, Christian Jr., joined in managing the farm. In 2016, we set ourselves to a new project: building our own wet mill, called Los Lirios de Belen (Belen in honor of the original family farm, and Lirios in honor of my grandmother Carmen Samayoa, because she loved water hyacinth, which translates to Lirios). Our wet mill was built inside the farm La Revuelta in order to process our coffee with the highest quality machinery and quality control. We have concentrated in two different processes: fully washed and natural. In the coming years, we will begin to experiment with honey process. This is only the beginning of what we have planned for our coffee!

MASL El Xalum: 1450m +

Hectares El Xalum: 54 Ha

MASL La Revuelta: 1400m +

Hectares La Revuelta: 8 Ha

Varietals: 97% Red Bourbon, 2% Yellow Bourbon, 1% Geisha (Future production 3 years)

Wet mill: Beneficio Lirios de Belen

Wet mill Processes: Natural and Washed lots

Drying time for Natural: 40-50 days

Drying time for Washed : 8-15 days

Monte de Oro:

From Mario

Located in Acatenango Valley, Mr. Pedro Melendez owned the farm El Socorro. One of his 4 children, my great grandfather, Fidel Melendez, renamed the farm Monte de Oro, referring to the great fertility of the ground. Then, my grandfather Ricardo Melendez inherited the farm and increased the coffee plantation, making the farm single crop. At the same time, my grandfather, dissatisfied about selling his coffee to our neighbors, Antigua Guatemala, was convinced of the high quality of the regional cherry and got together with several producers to found Cooperativa Acatenango. My mother, Ericka Melendez, then took control of the administration in 1980 after my grandfather's passing. It's important to note that she was the first lady in the area who administrated a coffee farm with success. Lastly, in 2008, my mother and my father, Mario Rene Alarcón Aguilar, decided that it was time for me to take the administration. My name is Mario Ricardo Alarcón Melendez, and I'm the 5th generation to oversee the farm. Due to my major (Mechanical Industrial Engineer), I took the duty to design a wet mill that would improve the coffee quality using the best machinery and with a simple and efficient process. Currently, the farm has more than 5 varietals of coffee and 3 different processes, providing a wide variety of flavor for our clients around the world.

LOCATION: Acatenango

AREA: 21 Ha

VARIETIES: Catuai Caturra Geisha Bourbon - Caturra Pache

METERS ABOVE SEA LEVEL: 1530m - 1690m