The relationship between Organic Coffee and Kenyan washing in Saint Isabel Manor, Guatemala

The Coffee Association of Guatemala (Anacafe) classifies Guatemala into eight producing areas according to its geographical characteristics, raw coffee beans and flavor. On the other hand, the northern Koban rainforest region (Rainforest Coban) has written a very interesting page in the history of coffee competition in Guatemala:

"it is surprising that there is a manor that can win the championship in this producing area for 12 years in a row!" The estate is the St. Isabel Manor (Finca Santa Isabel) run by the Valma family.

St. Isabel's Manor won so many awards that other estates in the Koban area protested, so in this year's evaluation, the score was changed to a full blind test. The final result was announced: "the champion is still St. Isabel Manor!"

In fact, in the past, the Koban producing area brought many planting problems because of the climate: the wet and rainy forest climate, such as continuous rainfall and extremely high humidity in the air, made coffee cultivation extremely vulnerable to fungal infections such as leaf rust. In the process of fermentation and drying, we have to completely "watch the sky to eat".

However, as the first pioneer to win the top three C.O.E awards in the Koban area, St. Isabel Manor not only performs well year after year, but also grows organic coffee recognized by international authoritative certification bodies such as USDA (United States Department of Agriculture).

The long history of the manor

St. Isabel Manor has a long history and has been passed on to the fourth generation. The management of boutique coffee began in 1997.

The first generation of manor owners were the forerunners of the reclamation of Koban production areas, naming the manor after their mother, Lady St. Isabel. In 1965, Louis I mainly planted sugar cane, and in 1980, the third generation of Louis II began to grow coffee trees. The current Mr. Louis III is named after his father and grandfather (both called Louis), so for the sake of distinction, we call him by his nickname Wicho. As a fourth-generation operator, Mr. Wicho left home in order to improve the estate and went to study at Harvard's Agricultural College in Honduras to bring what he learned back home and contribute to the coffee cultivation on his estate. Take over as the current coffee farm manager, continue to invest in the cultivation of boutique coffee for 15 years.

Kenyan washing method

Some people joked that it was a beautiful mistake to find that Kenyan coffee washing (semi-fermentation and secondary infiltration) was suitable for Koban production areas. Because it often rained in Koban, when it rained, the batch fermented the night before should have gone directly into the drying plant, but it was not available, so we had to put it into another static tank, only to find that it could effectively improve the cleanliness and flavor.