Guatemala - Women Coffee Producers

Tasting Notes: Dark Chocolate, Fig, Red Currant, Black Tea, Vanilla

Country: Guatemala

Region: Huehuetenango

Farm: various women producers

Variety: Caturra, Bourbon, Catuai

Altitude: 1200 - 1600 meters above sea level

Processing: Fully washed

Background From Our Importer: 

Huehuetenango is the highest and driest of Guatemala's non-volcanic regions. This renowned region owes much to the dry, hot winds that come in from the mountains of Mexico's Tehuantepec plain. The additional heat layers protect Huehuetenango from frost and enable coffee to grow at altitudes of 2,000 masl.

In 2016, our importer created the La Morena program to give female coffee growers access to the global supply chain and to address gender inequality in coffee farming. The program started off small; they worked with four IWCA members to import 32 boxes of green coffee beans. Fast forward to 2023: their specialty coffee sourcing team in Guatemala worked with over 800 women farmers spanning the coffee-growing regions of Huehuetenango and Baja Verapaz. What started as a micro-lot of about 2,000 lbs of coffee has blossomed into a platform that strongly addresses gender inequality in coffee.