Finca Santa Clara
The Zelaya family has been growing coffee for over 100 years and for four generations. It all started back in 1908 when the great-grandfather of the current owner, Ricardo, had a dream of growing coffee and began to purchase land throughout Guatemala to create coffee farms. Today, this renowned family grows coffee in many regions of Guatemala and are one of only a handful of genuine ‘Antigua’ coffee growers, nestled in the Antigua valley area surrounded by three volcanoes – Agua, Acatenango and Fuego.
- Farm Finca Santa Clara
- Varietal Bourbon, Caturra, Valencia
- Process Fully washed
- Altitude 1,550 to1,890 metres above sea level
- Town / City Antigua
- Region Sacatepéquez
- Owner Zelaya Family
- Tasting Notes Lemon, orange, praline
- Farm Size 130 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.