This coffee comes from two women farmers growing coffee across Guatemala - Margarita Carmen Rodriguez in the western department of Quetzaltenango, and Sandy Fabiola de Leon in the eastern El Progreso department, on the slopes of Sierra de las Minas. They both come to coffee growing with years of experience, and have also been working with Caravela Coffee Importers' PECA education program to increase productivity and improve quality.

Margarita Rodriguez
Margarita Rodriguez is a producer in the Quetzaltenango department of Guatemala, near the town of San Juan Ostuncalco. As is common in the region, Margarita has been involved in coffee cultivation for her entire life. Initially, it was her parents who, as workers on a farm, taught her the management of the crop, from planting, harvesting, processing, and drying.

It wasn't until she got married that she and her husband acquired their own farm, and coffee became their main source of income. The farm totals 5.7 hectares (14 acres), 3.5 (8.6 acres) of which are planted with coffee. As you can see in the photos, the land is full of lush forests. Although Doña Margarita initially had varieties such as Bourbon and Caturra, she recently decided to replace about 20% of them with resistant varieties due to fear of coffee rust. Harvesting is done manually and is supervised by Neivin, one of her sons, who now manages the farm.

Since 2020, Margarita has been working with Caravela Coffee Importers' PECA education program: in PECA, a team of agronomists educate farmers and their families on best practices to increase productivity and improve quality. Since then, she has made significant changes in the management and processing of the coffee, starting with selective harvesting, conducting fermentation processes in concrete tanks, followed by more careful drying that now takes between 7 and 10 days.

Margarita not only wants to continue improving the processes on the farm but also wishes for it to be a legacy for her children.

Sandy de Leon
This coffee was grown, harvested and processed by Sandy de Leon in the mountainous region of Sierra de las Minas. Sandy oversees all cultivation, processing and decision-making for the farm, driving advancements in farm practices within her community.

Sandy nurtures her coffee in the lush southern slopes of Sierra de Las Minas, a region celebrated for its natural beauty and rich biodiversity. After harvesting her coffee cherries at at peak ripeness and floating the batches to remove lower-density cherries, she carries out a 12-hour in-cherry fermentation.

Using water to pulp the coffee cherries in a motor-powered pulper at her own micro-mill, Sandy performs dry fermentation (without water) in concrete piles for 18 to 24 hours, as this has proven to produce cleaner and better-tasting coffees.