La Soledad Manor in Guatemala introduces the flavor of 90-hour fermented washed coffee?

Country: Guatemala

Region: Acatenango

Farm: La Soledad

Farmer: Raulp é rez and his family

Altitude: 1500 masl

Variety: Caturra

Processing system: washing

Fermentation: 90 hours

Flavor: rich chocolate flavor.

Raul Perez (Raulp é rez) grew up around coffee. He comes from the fifth generation of coffee growers on his father's side and the third generation on his mother's side. Coffee has always been a part of his life. He told me the story that his grandparents shared with him about their experiences.

Ten years ago, Raul first dabbled in the family business. When he was young, he lived in Guatemala City (so he was able to go to a good school and university) and then returned to the farm where his family was still working and commuting.

It coincides with the visit of international buyers, who make their families look at coffee production differently. The professional market is booming, and visitors provide them with new ideas about variety, picking and processing, thus changing the direction of the farm and the quality of the cups. As Raul said, they began to work in a "more interactive way".

Finca La Soledad has been a Perez family coffee farm since 1895. The farm is located in Acatenango, near the Acatenango volcano. Its microclimate is very good, with an altitude of 1650 meters.

The Perez family invested heavily in its factory and rebuilt it in consideration of the environment. They have a smart system that can recycle treated water many times.

I first met Raul at a friend's wedding in Guatemala. I didn't know him (like most other guests), but we started talking and I liked his company. He never tried to drink coffee from me. I think he just said his family was drinking coffee. Raul was so friendly that he offered to take us back to our hotel that night in case we had to take an escape taxi in Guatemala City.

I had an export partner in Guatemala and sent me a great sample. I decided to set it there, and then we had to buy it. I only found out that I bought it from Raul's farm when I promised to buy coffee. From then on, I was lucky to visit the farm and get to know the whole family. The fond memory of being with me is sitting with them on an unused dry terrace, drinking beer and watching the sun set. They are a professional team and a lovely and enthusiastic family.

The coffee we produce from La Soledad is washed coffee. This means soaking them in water to extract fruit from beans. This fermentation process plays a key role in the development of high-quality coffee into a special flavor. This is beans from the plant to our journey is very interesting (and very complicated! And smart producers like the P é rez family are really starting to explore and experiment.

After picking, put the cherries in a steel can with cold water. Raul controls the temperature during coffee fermentation because he found that keeping the temperature low allows coffee to ferment for longer without producing any peculiar smell.