SPECIALTY COFFEE PRODUCERS & EXPORTES

Finca El Rincón has a very long coffee tradition. The first family plantations were located in Lake Atitlán’s surroundings, in Finca San Julián since 1860. This coffee tradition went on and has been improved over time and generations achieving an excellent symbiosis between the excellent production tradition and the most modern processing techniques.

Don Julián’s tradition is still alive in the coffee plantation at Finca El Rincón, an estate located in the Central Plateau of the Sierra Madre mountain range at 5000 ft. It is completely surrounded by two clear water rivers and the coffee plantation occupies more than 90% of the farm extension.

Each and every plant in the plantation is carefully taken care of from the very beginning. The new plant seeds are selected among the best seeds of the plantation. This seeds are rooted then grown in the “almácigo” under cushin tree shade. When the plants are almost a year old, they are transported into the fields where shade is already grown to minimize the plant stress in this movement and in the future plantation.

Two years after the coffee plants are taken into the plantation, the first production is obtained; the production then continues once a year.

HARVEST AND FARM PROCESS

Due to the climate and the farm altitude, the harvest takes place between December and March. Careful attention is placed in harvesting only the well matured seeds, when their color is between deep red and purple. After the daily harvest the coffee is manually selected to remove any not matured seed accidentally cut.

Finca El Rincón has its own wet mill or “beneficio húmedo”. The daily harvest is taken into this place where the coffee process begins each and every harvest day. After the coffee is received, it is taken into a large water tank or “sifón” where the second selection takes place, in this case it is done by density difference; the best seeds are heavy and go to the bottom of the tank and used in the further process while the other seeds are taken into a separate process.

After this selection, the seeds are continuously taken out of this tank into the “pulperos”, mechanical machines that separates the coffee peel or pulp and the internal seed. This seed is taken into a rotatory selector or “criba”, to eliminate the residual pulp. After all this, the coffee is taken into tanks where the 24 to 48 hours fermentation takes place to eliminate the jelly inside of the seed called “mucílago”.

After fermentation, coffee is washed a couple of times and then taken into the drying yards or “patios”. Drying coffee under the sun takes from 8 to 15 days, depending basically in the weather conditions. After this procedure we have parchment coffee or “café pergamino”.

The coffee last outside cover (the pergamino) is taken out in the trilla after which we obtain green coffee, ready for traditional export.

Don Julián’s Coffee has gone a step further and now roasts its own coffee in traditional roasters to obtain the superb quality of Café Don Julián. The coffee is then packed in total barrier bags to guarantee the quality of the product for more than two years.

Don Julian’s Coffee quality has been recognized by Anacafé (the Guatemalan National Coffee Association) and by other coffee organizations. We are now able to offer you this superb coffee directly sent from the farm, no intermediates to assure you the origin and quality of the product.