Guatemala Hoja Blanca

Coffee grown in this area – one of the best known in all of Guatemala – at high altitudes (2000-1500) and with a rainfall of 1600-1200 mm per year. During the harvest season, about 30 harvesters from the village work 7 days a week and collect the coffee directing the batch to a concrete water pool. The ripe and high-quality fruits (the most dense) sink and are separated, while the floating fruits (the lower quality) are sold cheaply to large and well-known commercial companies. After peeling the fruit the beans are dried in the sun for a week while scraping them every half hour to keep from rotting. As night falls, the farmers put the coffee inside so that it does not absorb any moisture from the morning dew, and during the day, they spread the coffee out again to dry.