Farm/Region: Alta Verapaz
Tasting Notes: Brown sugar and pineapple with vanilla
Producer: Valdes Family
Varietal: Caturra
Processing: Washe
2024 marks 13 years of our coffee partnership with Luis ‘Wicho’ Valdés and Santa Isabel Estate. The 300-hectare farm sits in Guatemala’s Alta Verapaz department, where the lush rainforest, cool climate and plentiful rainfall create fantastic conditions for growing coffee.
Wicho is a fifth-generation producer who runs Santa Isabel with great care and a precise attention to detail, carefully balancing tradition with innovation. In recent years, he has been working hard to make his agricultural processes more sustainable and to embrace more organic and biodynamic farming practices.
Through the application of natural micro-organisms to his coffee trees, Wicho has managed to cut out all use of pesticides and most of his fungicide use. As he puts it, “Instead of investing more in medicine, we want to invest more in nutrition.” This approach has led to healthier, more resilient trees that produce deliciously distinct and wonderfully complex coffees.