Guatemala - La Maravilla "Aguacate"

Origine: Los Arroyos, Huehuetenango, Guatemala
Variety: Caturra
Process: Washed
Elevation: 1,650 - 1,800 MASL
Farm owner: Mauricio Rosales

La Maravilla is a family-run farm located in the heart of the lush Huehuetenango region, located to the west of Guatemala and near the border with Mexico.  The farm was first established by Guillermo Rosales and his son Mauricio (pictured above, with Fleur), and is divided into six plots, which differ in varieties: Pacayal (Caturra), La Peña (Pache), El Mezcal (Bourbon & Caturra), El Aguacate (Caturra), La Cumbre (Bourbon, Caturra & Pache) and Los Arroyos (Caturra & Pache San Ramón). This particular lot comes from a plot of the farm called “Aguacate.”

While originally from Tiquisate, a town in Guatemala’s south known for sugarcane and banana production, the Rosales moved north to Huehuetenango to find better work opportunities. Don Guillermo had ample experience in agriculture already, but Mauricio’s career in coffee only began in 1984, when he began working as a green buyer for exporter Volcafe. Ironically, Mauricio hadn’t grown up as a coffee drinker, finding it too bitter as a child, and had to learn to taste and evaluate coffee on the job. As his career progressed, his colleagues and peers kept telling him that if he was to really understand the ins and outs of the local industry, he would eventually need to start producing coffee himself — and that’s how La Maravilla was born.

Don Guillermo and Mauricio bought the 25-hectare farm in 1997. The land had been part of Finca El Injerto II, one of Guatemala’s most awarded farms, and the Rosales family named it La Maravilla (“the wonder”) after their reaction to the beauty of the land.