Hacienda Carmona Washed Villa Sarchi - Guatemala

250g

Region: Antigua

Flavour notes: nectarine, molasses, pineapple

Variety: Villa Sarchi

Altitude: 2000m

Transparency:

SCA Cup Score: 87.25

Quantity Purchased: 46 kg

Farm Gate: 4.25 USD/lb

Free On Board: 7.22 CAD/lb

Free On Truck: 8.28 CAD/lb

The Genuine Antigua “Café Pulcal” is grown in Hacienda Carmona. The story of this historic gem goes back to the year 1541, when Don Juan de Carmona came to Guatemala with the Spanish conqueror Don Pedro de Alvarado and started cultivating a variety of agricultural products in the farm. In the late 1800s, the Zelaya family acquired the farm and planted Arabica coffee. After many years of hard work and commitment, in 1918, coffee was exported from Guatemala for the first time.

The coffee plantation continues with its original varieties, which are red and yellow Bourbón and Typica. The plantation is located in a unique microclimate and in the highest points of the famous and privileged soils of the Antigua Valley. Café Pulcal is processed and washed in the most traditional manner, using crystal clear spring water of the mountains. Many experts have regarded this coffee among the finest coffee produced anywhere in the world. Coffee trees are planted in well-spaced rows on this estate: one row in three is stumped every few years to make room for more light and air to nourish the remaining trees. This proactive program is part of a dedicated three-year pruning cycle that keeps root systems intact while integrating young plants into production for a healthy balance each harvest.

Since 1959, Maria Zelaya Aguirre, third generation coffee producer, still owns Hacienda Carmona. Maria continues to honor the work of her grandfather and father, her devotion to the farm and its people, and her eternal love for coffee.

Luis Pedro Zelaya and Ricardo Zelaya now oversee the Hacienda. It has its own wet mill and coffee is dry processed at Finca Santa Clara. It's also home to Hacienda Carmona, Carmona Trails and a Dairy Farm. Over the years they have replanted the farm to now have new varieties like Java, San Francisco and Villa Sarchi.

Like Caturra and Pacas, Villa Sarchi (also called La Luisa or Villalobos Bourbon) is a natural mutation of a Bourbon population with a single-gene mutation that causes the plant to grow smaller (called “Dwarf/Compactism’). The variety was discovered in Costa Rica in the 1950s or 1960s in the northwestern region of the province of Alajuela, and has subsequently undergone pedigree selection (selection of individual plants through successive generations) there.

The Fermentation Process: Washed

After being harvested at peak ripeness, the coffee cherries are floated to remove defects and then are pulped mechanically, removing the majority of the fruit. They are then dry fermented for 36 hours. Afterwards, the coffee washed four times in clean water. Finally, it's dried on raised beds for 18–22 days, until it moisture content has reached 11-12%.