Starbucks' finest coffee supply estate, Antigua Medina Manor, Guatemala

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English name: Guatemala Antigua Finca Medina

Country: Guatemala

Producing area: Antigua

Grading: very hard beans (SHB, Strictly Hard Bean)

Producer: Madina Manor

Treatment: washing

Varieties: bourbon (Bourbon), Kaddura (Caturra)

Altitude: 1520 to 1700 m

GPS: 14 degrees 32 minutes 15 seconds north latitude 90 degrees 45 minutes 26 seconds west longitude (processing plant)

Certification: rainforest Conservation Alliance (Rainforest Alliance), Uzi (Utz)

Located in the isthmus of Central America, Guatemala is geologically young, and there are many mountains and plateaus formed by active volcanoes. These high-altitude mountains, because of the cold climate and often covered with fertile volcanic ash soil by volcanic eruptions, are very suitable for the production of high-quality coffee. As the ninth largest coffee producing country in the world, the main coffee producing areas of Guatemala are Antigua, Huehuetenango, Atitlan, Coban, Fraijanes, San Marcos, Acatenango and New Oriete.

Among the eight major producing areas, Antigua is the first to become famous and attract the attention of coffee connoisseurs around the world. The so-called "Antigua" is actually a plateau basin surrounded by three volcanoes up to 3600-3700 meters above sea level and locally known as the Antigua Valley (Antigua Valley). In fact, this basin has a long history. Because of its cold climate all the year round, it was favored by the Spaniards who invaded Central America. In the middle of the 16th century, 460 years ago, the Spanish ruling class was built to dominate the entire capital of Central America. At that time, it ruled throughout present-day Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Mexico's Chiapas region.

Although thousands of buildings in the urban area of Antigua became collapsed and dangerous later because of several earthquakes of magnitude 7 or more in the 18th century, the Spaniards decided to move the capital. However, today's Antigua is still a beautiful ancient city with a history of about 500 years. Top five-star and six-star hotels are opened in the renovated buildings of the ancient city, attracting hundreds of thousands of tourists every year to visit you. Let tourists wantonly immerse themselves in the bleak and magnificent atmosphere of Spanish colonial history 500 years ago.

In the sight of tourists, the Volcan Fuego emits thick smoke and dust day and night, and after night, you can even vaguely see the fire coming out and falling like fireworks from a dark night sky, reminding everyone all the time that the crust under the feet of this area is not at all restless, as if ready for a major apocalyptic event! Although the active volcanic activity is frightening, millions of tons of volcanic ash are released every year in the valley, rich in hundreds of precious and beneficial elements in the earth's crust, making it the best and free high-quality fertilizer for local coffee plantations. at the same time, it nourishes the natural forests and crops of the whole valley. The coffee farms in the valley are located around the ancient city of Antigua and the basin extends southwest to the foothills of Volcan Agua and Volcan Acatenango volcanoes. This is a very flat area at the bottom of the basin, about 1520 to 1530 meters above sea level, surrounded by hillsides that surround the basin, and coffee trees are planted on the flat part of the basin and on the surrounding slopes about 1600 to 1800 meters above sea level. Shade cultivation is popular in Antigua. Coffee farms often use local forest tall native trees as shade trees to plant ancient excellent variety "Bourbon" and bourbon dwarf mutant "Kaddura" under thick shade.

Highly shaded cultivation of Antigua is rare in the world, perhaps because the valley is sunny at a fixed time of year, and the radiation-cooled night temperature is low enough to frost the leaves above. As a result, the manor must use high-density shade trees to form an insulation layer to prevent coffee from fatal frost. But it also inadvertently prompted the manor to plant a large number of native tree species, allowing local insects, birds, frogs and small mammals. They all have food and shelter, indirectly maintaining the original local ecology, and most of the Antigua coffee estates can easily be certified for rainforest conservation later on. For these estates, the rainforest conservation certification is only well deserved.

Such an environment also allows Antigua coffee trees to enjoy, nourished by volcanic ash and fallen leaves of shade trees. In addition, shade trees provide mild light and stable temperature environment, which also slows the growth and ripening of coffee berries, which has a significant effect on improving the content and overall density of coffee beans. So we can also boldly say: the highly shaded and environmentally friendly agricultural method has strengthened and promoted the taste of Antigua coffee, while the purchase of Antigua coffee has strengthened and strengthened the highly shaded agricultural method of Antigua, which is tantamount to protecting the original ecology of the place! At present, a high degree of circular interdependence has been formed between the two, and it is impossible to cut and separate! The coffee cultivation industry in Antigua has a long history. In addition to the highly shaded cultivation that prevailed a long time ago, the local coffee estates are mainly large-scale century-old estates, which can cover an area of nearly 100 hectares and produce as much as thousands of bags a year. The production scale of each estate is not small.

The manor is usually run by families that have been inherited for hundreds of years, and most of the owners' families live in mansions like European aristocratic castles, and the family members are usually quite rich and own a lot of estate, belonging to the upper class of the local society. coupled with the 100-year history of rich and educated family heritage, each owner can be said to be aristocrats in the coffee world.

In fact, the daily operation of the manor depends on the professional agricultural personnel and workers employed by the landowners, and even depends on the local Mayan aborigines to work as harvesting workers in the manor every year during the harvest season. harvest operations are carried out in the districts of each garden as planned. Every harvest season, Mayan harvesters always work in the manor with their families, and adults are busy harvesting, children or playing or helping to play and work in the woods.

These large coffee farms adhere to a century-old tradition and focus on producing high-quality traditional washed coffee. In addition to taking care of shade forests, renewing coffee trees, fertilizing according to scientific analysis and planning, pruning and pruning. In the harvest season, harvesters are strictly required to pick red, ripe and purple ripe berries, and a key quality control point is set up at the feed source of the washing treatment plant: picking out immature fruits, floating fruits, floating beans, and precise control of the fermentation degree of the fermentation tank, full washing and complete removal of pectin, use of clean and flat concrete exposure site, complex and full turning during exposure. Even before export, we have to select and refine coffee beans by specific gravity selection (Density Sorting) and color selection (Color Sorting). It is even difficult to say all the effort and cost invested in coffee.

Medina Manor is a representative of these century-old manors, which was founded in 1842 and has a history of more than 170 years. The garden is located about three kilometers southwest of the ancient city of Antigua, with a total estate of 74 hectares. the main coffee garden is located in a basin with a flat elevation of about 1520 meters and extends northwest into the hillside area. the highest elevation of the coffee garden is about 1700 meters. The manor itself has a large-scale washing treatment plant, which is set up near the river in the manor in order to obtain water sources nearby for washing operations.

As with tradition, the Medina estate adopts a highly shaded farming method, and the estate even sets a standard of at least 322 native trees per hectare as shade trees. a high degree of understanding and belief in the importance of this agricultural method in maintaining the environment and improving the quality of coffee beans. They have even expanded the meaning of environmental maintenance to the level of "sustainable production", so they have customized three sustainability commitments covering social responsibility, environmental responsibility, product quality responsibility and other areas:

(1) promise to treat all workers well

(2) promise to maintain concern and awareness of changes in the manor environment.

(3) promise to produce high-quality and high-yield coffee beans

As a result of strict implementation of self-made commitments, Madina Manor has received a number of certifications and honors, such as Rainforest Conservation Alliance Certification (Rainforest Alliance), goodwill Certification (Utz Good Inside), Starbucks Best Coffee production (Starbucks Best Coffee Practices), American Fine Coffee Association Coffee quality Center Certification (SCAA-CQI Q Grade Certification). Even Starbucks, the leading coffee shop chain, regards the coffee as "the best of the best" and supplies this hand-brewed coffee and coffee beans for a long time in their latest flagship store "Reserve Store" and flagship coffee bean product "Starbucks Reserve". If you look at other coffee farms around the world, every certification and honor mentioned above is not easy to come by, but Medina Manor has got it one by one! Of course, it is not only these external honors that convince everyone. Also includes every connoisseur tasting from every sip in the mouth? The wonderful flavor: chocolate-like flavor in a balanced tone, mixed with floral aromas and soft acidity, plus a nutty and hardwood finish. I believe that when you taste the individual coffee from this manor, you will be able to have the same taste experience and feel the efforts and dedication of the manor behind this experience!