San Antonio Chaguite, Guatemala

The Perez family has been one of our direct-from-origin producers since 2014, and we are proud of feature their coffee once again. The San Antonio Chaguite farm sits at the highest elevation amongst the Family Bonds Coffee farms, at 1950 metres above sea level. 

Finca San Antonio Chaguite is one out of six farms in Family Bonds Coffee, a family-owned business that strives at harvesting, processing, and distributing unique varieties. The business is headed by William Perez, with his sons actively involved in daily operations. 

Guatemala benefits from high altitudes and unique microclimates with constant rainfall and mineral-rich soil in most regions, which is suitable for producing coffee. Huehuetenango sits on the highest and driest coffee producing region, and is protected from frost as it experiences dry and hot winds, allowing coffees to be grown on high elevations. The Huehuetenango region also has an almost boundless amount of rivers and streams, a very important resource in washing coffees. 

The Bourbon varietal is one of the most culturally and genetically important varietal of the Arabica species of coffee. It is revered for its excellent cup quality, especially at high altitudes. Its history began in the 1700s, when the French introduced this varietal from Yemen to what was formerly known as Bourbon Island (now known as La Réunion). Around the mid-1800s, this varietal started to spread to new parts of the world, as missionaries moved to establish footholds in regions such as Africa and Americas. 

In Latin America, this varietal originated from Brazil, and rapidly spread into other parts of South and Central America. Today, it has been largely replaced by varieties that descend from it, for example, Caturra, Catuai, and Mundo Novo, to name a few. Hence, it could be said to be the grandfather of coffee varietals, and is still grown today in countries such as El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Peru. 

This lot is a washed-processed coffee, where cherries are pulped to remove the skin, and then rinsed in water tanks to remove the mucilage. The coffee is then dried on raised beds. San Antonio Chaguite prides itself on this processing method, and the quality is always clean and consistent, and this keeps us buying from them every year. 

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