Guatemala Chichupac Coffee Cooperative Guatemalan hand-made coffee flavor

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Cooperativo Chichupac

Farms: 28 small farms

Variety: Sarchimor

Processing: fully cleaned and dried patio

Altitude: 1800-2000 m above sea level

Owner: product Manager of Chichupac Cafe

Town / city: Rabina, Chigu Park

Region: Baja Verapaz

Notes of cup test

Overall: almonds, cherries, oranges, milk chocolate, complex, silky body.

The Chichu Park Coffee producers Association (APCC) was founded in 1982, shortly after the end of Guatemala's 36-year horrific civil war. The organization is still small: it currently has only 28 members from 13 different local families, and about 50 "independent" neighbors who deliver coffee to the wet mill in APCC. All families, except two, belong to the Mayan Archie community, and Spanish is their second language.

Barapaz is one of the areas hardest hit by the civil war in the region. Life was further complicated by the Checksoy Dam Project in the late 1970s and early 1980s. To complete the construction, the government completed the voluntary and compulsory relocation of the dam-affected communities from the fertile agricultural valleys to the harsher surrounding highlands. When hundreds of residents refused to relocate or returned after finding that the conditions for the resettlement of the village did not meet the Government's commitments, the men, women and children were abducted, raped and slaughtered by paramilitary and military officials. More than 440 Maya Archie were killed in the village of Negro in Rio de Janeiro alone, and a series of extrajudicial incidents between 1980 and 1982 killed 5000 people, known as Rio de Janeiro Negro massacres.

The region continues to suffer from the consequences of continued violence and conquest. The village is still remote and the road network is poorly connected. The community lacks many critical education and medical services. APCC believes that one way out of poverty and marginalization is coffee and collective action.

As mentioned earlier, the cooperative was founded in 1982 with a very humble foundation. In 1991, the organization decided to accept grants and loans from a non-governmental organization called the Integrity Center (CIF), a Catholic organization dedicated to helping poor rural families. They built a small community wet mill to process members' coffee and charge a small fee for other independent growers in the surrounding villages. Over the years, they have used the profits of these activities to pay off the loans.

In 2003, the female members of the group decided to further diversify. They set up their own parallel companies and began baking, grinding and packaging the group's coffee. They sell coffee under their registered trademark Cafe de Chichupac in local markets and stores in Guatemala City.

In 2006 and 2008, they ranked 16th and 20th in the Guatemala Cup of Excellence (Guatemala Cup of Excellence) in the name of Finca Chichupac. Unfortunately, shortly after that, the group was hit hard by coffee leaf rust and experienced some management problems that led them to export again until 2018-19.

In 2016, they began working closely with Anacafe, government agencies and international non-governmental organizations to receive training and financial support to improve their coffee plantations and milling facilities. The work continues to this day.

In addition to coffee, they also grow vegetables such as corn, black beans, tomatoes and cabbages, lettuce, beets and radishes. Avocados, bananas and oranges grow on the trees around their houses, and many families raise one or two cows, pigs, chickens and turkeys. These livelihood activities are essential to replenish coffee income.

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