Guatemala Antigua

Strictly High Grown coffee is produced in the highlands of Guatemala. Guatemalan Antigua is grown in the slopes of the volcanic mountains in Sierra Madre providing optimum conditions for high-quality coffee. Guatemalan Antigua coffee is well rounded, attractive, with a nice acidity level, and a beautiful balance.

Guatemalan coffee once enjoyed a reputation for being one of the best available in the industry. The Jesuits priest introduced coffee trees to the Country in 1750, and German immigrants developed the industry in the late 19thcentury. Today, most of the coffee production is carried out in the south of the country, in the highlands, where coffee producers still struggle to keep high quality due to low prices, disease, and bad weather.

Guatemalan coffee production is not recovering as expected from the rust outbreak of 2012 when 20 percent of the coffee production was lost to the disease, and combined with depresses international markets (Source: USDA Foreign Agricultural Service) continue to push farmers out of the coffee business.

According to the USDA Agricultural Information Network, Guatemalan coffee production for the marketing year of 2018 closed at 3.43 million bags, which is 10 percent less from the previous projection.

Guatemalan coffee marketing year for 2019 was expected to yield 3.39 million bags; this is 15 percent less than the 2018’s forecast, and it is expected to remain unchanged throughout the year 2020. In short, farmers are struggling to make a living from coffee. Efforts to support coffee farmers, however, include the coffee-fund trust extension, reinforcing coffee cooperatives, and associations to export directly to specialty coffee buyers, and promotion of domestic sales. Moreover, coffee production for the marketing year of 2020 is projected unchanged, the marketing year 2019 was estimated at 3.39 million bags, which is 15 percent down from the previous year’s estimate as coffee rust continues affecting farmers. Finally, at least half of the coffee renovated area has not entered into production; nationwide erratic rainfall resulted in reduced precipitation causing smaller coffee beans.