Product Overview
Throughout the 1990s, the Catholic Diocese of Quetzaltenango maintained an active program offering technical and organizational support to small-scale coffee farmers in western Guatemala as a means of poverty alleviation and economic development. However, despite this support, farmers still lacked the means to bring their product to market, and had to resort to selling to middlemen, “coyotes”, who cut them out of the greater market. It was with the goal of gaining direct access to international buyers that the Asociación de Pequeños Productores de Café Manos Campesinas was conceived in 1996. Organized as a secondary level organization, the cooperative developed direct export channels for a founding group of 6 farmer associations. Today, Manos Campesinas is comprised of 13 cooperative groups across the departments of San Marcos, Quetzaltenango, Sololá and Chimaltenango, and it represents over 1,200 farming families.
The majority of the coffee grown by Manos Campesinas’ members is high-altitude SHB (Strictly Hard Bean), with a diversity of coffee profiles, from the rich chocolatey coffees of San Marcos to the tart berry-like coffees of Sololá and Lake Atitlán. .
Tasting Profile: Caramel, almond, cherry and vanilla with a milky body and sweet, chocolatey finish.
