Finca San Jose Ocana
In the department of Guatemala is the San Juan Sacatepéquez municipality, which is the area where the farm San José Ocaña is situated. The farm is currently run by Guillermo Sánchez and has been in his family for over 100 years, first being founded in 1910. It first began as a forestry business, transitioning to a coffee farm as the years passed. Thanks to San José Ocaña’s high altitude, and rich clay soils, the coffee grown here is of excellent quality. Of the 175 hectares belonging to the farm, only 85 hectares grow coffee. The remaining land is dedicated to native forests with trees such as grevillea, silk oak and pine acting as shade for the coffee. Sustainability is a key value for the Sánchez family, and preserving the local ecosystems is of utmost importance. Ensuring a balance is maintained between the farm and the surrounding wilderness helps make San José Ocaña a truly sustainable farm.
For this specific lot, it is comprised of the Gesha varietal and underwent the Fully Washed process. This began when the cherries reached peak ripeness and were harvested delicately by hand. The cherries were then delivered to the wet mill via truck, where they were submerged in tanks of water to remove any floaters or underripe cherries. The coffee was then pulped and dispersed to be dried in the open sun. Once the ideal moisture content was reached, the coffee was gathered, rested, and delivered to the dry mill to be hulled and prepared for export.
- Farm San Jose
- Varietal Gesha
- Process Fully washed
- Altitude 1,800 to 1,955 metres above sea level
- Town / City San Juan Sacatepéquez
- Region Guatemala Department
- Owner Familia Sánchez
- Tasting Notes Blackberry, floral, tea-like
- Farm Size 145 hectares
Coffee has helped fuel Guatemala’s economy for over a hundred years. Today, an estimated 125,000 coffee producers drive Guatemala’s coffee industry and coffee remains one of Guatemala’s principal export products, accounting for 40% of all agricultural export revenue.
It is most likely that Jesuit missionaries introduced coffee to Guatemala, and there are accounts of coffee being grown in the country as early as mid-18th century. Nonetheless, as in neighbouring El Salvador, coffee only became an important export crop for the country at the advent of synthetic dyes and industrialisation of textiles – in the mid-19th century. Throughout the latter half of the 1800s, various government programs sought to promote coffee as a means to stimulate the economy, including a massive land privatisation program initiated by President Justo Rufino Barrias in 1871, which resulted in the creation of large coffee estates, many of which still produce some of Guatemala’s best coffees today.