Producer: Ventura Family
Location: Fraijanes, Guatemala
Landed: July 2023
Altitude: 1,630 masl
Varietal: Nance Amarillo
Process: White honey
Flavour profile: White flowers, melon & caramel
Category: Sweet & Balanced
Don Gregorio Zamora founded Finca Rabanales - now run by his great great
grandchildren, this farm has been in the family for five generations.
Of the five siblings that make up the family, Rafael and Maria Elena manage the farm on a daily basis. Rafael manages the technical field details, whilst Maria Elena supports the cupping operations.
The farm didn’t start out with coffee - it originally farmed livestock. Don
Gregorio Zamora planted coffee in 1894. From the beginning, the Ventura’s
have been guided by their commitment to producing high quality coffee,
something that has been passed on to each generation. The family’s vision is to share their coffee with the world, and gain recognition for their high cup quality.
When Coffee Bird first met Finca Rabanales, they weren’t yet working in the speciality market. For five generations, coffee had been good business - but since the 1980’s, coffee prices have consistently been dropping. They knew they had good coffees, but they weren’t sure how to market them. Rafael says that the Coffee Bird business model is unique, and has helped them branch out into speciality. Since 2014, Coffee Bird have bought coffee from them every year and helped them to expand into the speciality market.
Coffee Bird and Rabanales have a mutually beneficial ethos, they have supported each other through growth. This farm is one of the few that are still located within the limits of Guatemala City.
Nance Amarillo is a local variety that is probably related to Bourbon and has been named as such due to the cherries visual resemblance to the Nance fruit.
PROCESSING AT THE FARM
During the harvest, the coffee is hand picked daily and brought to the wet mill after sorting. There, it rests in the gravity flotation tank until 7 am the next day. Then, the coffee is immediately pulped, and passed through a demucilager to remove the excess mucilage. The freshly washed coffee parchment then moves to the patio via a channel.
Once the coffee arrives on the patio, it dries in the sun for an average of 8 to 13 days. The coffee is checked using a moisture reader. Once it reaches its ideal moisture, it is packed and stored in their warehouse. When the weather is drizzly there is a guardiola or dryer on site. If the dryer is utilised, the coffee is dried at 24-35 degrees Celsius. The process is a mix of using the dryers, and resting for a few hours, and then heating up again. Weather allowing, all coffee is sun dried on patios.
(In partnership with Coffee Bird)
