Puerta Verde
Puerta Verde (Green Door) lies along a relatively level 1,500 metres above sea level near Ciudad Vieja, Sacatapequez in Antigua, Guatemala. The farm’s name derives from its unique position in the Panchoy Valley, home to the richest soil, plentiful water, and the ideal environment to grow high quality coffee.
The farm truly is a ‘green door’ that has been owned and meticulously operated by the Zelaya family since 1999. The family motto for the farm is ‘The Green Gate to the best coffee in Antigua.’
- Farm Puerta Verde
- Varietal Caturra
- Process Fully washed
- Altitude 1,540 metres above sea level
- Town / City Ciudad Vieja, Sacatepéquez
- Region Antigua Valley
- Owner Zelaya Family
- Tasting Notes Caramel, rasin, chocolate
- Farm Size 43 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.