Coffee Origin Trip: Guatemala 2025

by Grady Buhler

Guatemala City

[Morning in Guatemala City]

At dawn on St. Valentine's Day, the Fellowship of the Bean assembled at YVR for departure to Guatemala City via Los Angeles. The group included owner John “Johnny Ball” Neate, retail leader Jesse “Bizz” Neate, head roaster Nicolas “Nine Door” Cramer, quality assistant Spencer “Budday” James, and Yours Truly. We arrived in Guatemala City without incident, not counting the horrific shock of margaritas costing $40 US at LAX (no joke). Clearly, we drank beer with our tacos.

I hadn't been to Guatemala in ten years, and Guate City was a little different than I remember. My chief memories were of diesel smoke, garbage on the streets, and motorcycles weaving through sweaty traffic. The traffic and motorbikes hadn't changed, but this time around we noted fresher air and much cleaner streets, at least near the airport. However, our local friends maintain that Guatemala City is still one of the most dangerous cities in the world, especially in certain zones.

After a wonderful first dinner near our hotel (located in an oasis of safety and beautiful architecture called Cayalá), we finished the evening with our first round of Guatemala's most famous rum, Ron Zacapa. Not the last!

[First night in Guatemala]

Antigua

[Antigua, Guatemala]

Upon waking, Nicolas and I ventured out of the “compound” to find coffee. Thank goodness Nico speaks Spanish; the Fellowship may not have returned home without him. Nine Door and I had an adequate but helpful espresso at a Cafe Barista stand before piling into the van (shout out to our driver Diego) for the 90 minute drive to Finca Santa Clara in Antigua, the flagship farm of famed producer Don Ricardo Zelaya (of “Zelaya Espresso” fame).

On the way to the farm, we picked up JJ's granddaughter (and Jesse's niece) Rylie. She was in Antigua on a mission trip, and was able to sneak away to join us for the day: three generations of Neates on one coffee farm!

[Chatting with Don Ricardo Zelaya as we arrived at Finca Santa Clara]

Inside the gates of Santa Clara to greet us was Billy “Billiam” Macmillan, aka Common Goal Coffee (a Vancouver-based coffee importer). We buy all of our Zelaya coffees through Billy, who also happens to be a close friend of the Zelaya family. After settling in, Ricardo showed us around his beautiful farm, starting with the wet mill, drying patios, greenhouse, and dry mill.

Since my last visit, Ricardo has introduced coffee washing machines that use friction to remove the mucilage after fermentation in a much more efficient manner than pushing the coffee through the old washing channels. I also learned that he raises the pH of the coffee waste water and puts it back into the farm, along with breaking down the pulp with worms to use it for fertilizer.

[Ricardo showing us around the wet mill, including the washing machines]

[Billy and Nico surveying the fermentation tanks]

[Drying on patio and in greenhouse]

[Nico amongst the naturals]

[Coffee drying in its parchment]

[In the dry mill]

[Billy and Nico goofing around in the dry mill]

[Ricardo showing Bizz the magic coffee sorting machine]

[A bag of JJ-roasted Santa Clara… at Santa Clara!]

Before lunch we cupped two rounds of Ricardo's coffees, including geishas, javas, and unique processes from a number of his farms. As usual, I was most attracted to the washed coffees from Finca Puerta Verde, including a very nice villa sarchi (Billy had prophesied this outcome). But they were all excellent coffees.

While we waited for the cups to cool, Ricardo told us about the scholarship program they offer for their permanent workers. They've put 42 kids through education from primary through university!

[Ricardo in front of a framed JJ Bean bag in the cupping room!]

After cupping, Ricardo and his wife Cynthia gave us a delicious lunch of grilled steaks and accoutrements, including plantain chips with artichoke dip (artichokes are Ricardo's favourite). We were joined by their daughters, Katia (with husband Daniel and young children) and Metis.

[Plantain chips for the artichoke dip with Spencer’s huge left gun in the background]

Blissfully full of the local beef (expertly grilled medium-rare), Ricardo and Billiam drove us up through Santa Clara in the side-by-sides, pointing out which varieties were planted in which areas. As it was harvest time, we came across some pickers and stopped to greet them. Then up we continued, winding to the top of the farm where Ricardo grows avocado. There, under a covered platform looking out upon the bella vista, we had a beer and some laughs. As I've written before, Ricardo has the best laugh in the coffee business. Thankfully, Metis has inherited this marvellous attribute and will preserve it for future generations.

After our day at Santa Clara, Billiam and Metis took us to our accommodations for the next two nights: yurts in the middle of the Carmona coffee farm. These were no rustic tents; we were most certainly “glamping.” Among other amenities, each yurt included a hot tub and outdoor fireplace.

After cleaning ourselves up and refreshing ourselves with a modest drop of Zacapa by way of an aperitif, we headed out to dinner in Antigua with Billy and the Zelaya family. We ate in a beautiful restaurant called Meson Panza Verde, which happened to be where Billy got married! The fish was transcendent, but the camaraderie and merriment were even better.

The next morning, after drinking a very strong French press of exquisite Carmona coffee, we breakfasted on the local fresh cheese, tortillas, and other delicious dishes at the Zelaya's outdoor cafe at the farm. The cafe looks onto trailheads for mountain biking and hiking. Metis is involved in overseeing this impressive eco-tourism side of the business.

Then we were off in the side-by-sides to see Finca Carmona, including the wet-mill, cattle farm, chapel, and the 19th century house first inhabited by Ricardo's great-grandfather. This was a special place, full of history and meaning for the Zelaya family, and we felt privileged to see it.  Carmona was inherited by Ricardo’s aunt, Maria Zelaya (may she rest in peace), in 1959.  By all accounts, Maria was a beloved matriarch.  She donated land from the estate for a hospital serving low-income patients, including a home for people with special needs.

[The family home at Finca Carmona]

[Drying patios, cattle, and coffee trees at Carmona]

[The chapel]

[Inside the house]

From there, we headed to Finca Puerta Verde, another famous Zelaya farm and one of my personal favourites with regard to the taste of the coffees. The farm is named after the green door at the gate. Because the farm is located at the bottom of the valley where the cool air settles, there is risk of frost. Ricardo showed us areas of the farm that had to be replanted because the frost-affected plants. The Gravilea trees provide a canopy that help keep warm air in, but some years the temperature drops below freezing with disastrous results. 

[Finca Puerta Verde]

[The Green Door!]

That afternoon we ventured into Antigua, as Spencer and Nicolas hadn't been there before. Antigua (“ancient”) Guatemala, a UNESCO World Heritage site, was the capital of most of Central America from 1543 through 1773. This is reflected in the city's remarkable Spanish-style Baroque architecture.

Ricardo took us to see a stunning Airbnb they are developing inside an ancient monastery building near the cathedral. Then we wandered through the main square, visited the cathedral, and walked to St. Catalina's Arch before taking a delicious traditional lunch at a local restaurant. After an appetizer of different types of tamales, we relished a restorative chicken soup with rice and plenty of fresh cilantro.

[The main square in Antigua]

[Classic Antigua shot]

[The Cathedral]

On the way back to the yurts, we picked up Brandon “Hollywood” Thiessen at his hotel, that he might join us in the evening's revelries. Brandon, who would be accompanying us on our next leg of the journey in Huehuetenango, looks after the Canadian arm of Royal Coffee, a venerable Oakland-based coffee importer with which JJ has been working since the beginning. We've travelled with Brandon before, so he was prepared for our... peculiarities.

Back at the yurts, Ricardo and Metis had brought provisions for the evening. We sat by the outdoor fire, sipping Zacapa and Don Julio, and sharing stories. The mosquitoes were ravenous, but though we were worried about dengue and zika, we didn't go inside until the rains came. Even though we had to wake up at 3am to catch our flight to Huehuetenango, we stayed up chatting into the night, ever grateful for the Zelaya's outlandish hospitality. We even taught Metis how to speak Canadian English. To be more specific, it was a dialect local to Spencer's hometown of London, Ontario (hockey English), but Metis got it! “What up budday??”

Finca El Injerto

The valiant Diego picked us up in his van at 3:30am so we could beat the traffic to the airport in time for our early flight to Huehue out of Guate City. The only place near the airport that was open for coffee was a McDonald's. Some of us breakfasted there; the wise ones stuck to coffee. Then it was time to find our hangar to board the 20-seat Canadian-made “Twin Otter” propeller plane bound for Huehuetenango. Due to a near-death experience involving a small plane and vulture on our last origin trip in Colombia, our group (especially Bizz) was a little uneasy about taking the short, half-hour flight. But after saying our prayers and blessing the plane, the journey was smoother than a gravy sandwich and we arrived without incident. Hollywood had arranged for two 4x4's with drivers (Lucasito and Manuel) to pick us up and take us to Finca El Injerto, near La Libertad.

The roughly three-hour drive from Huehuetenango to El Injerto reflected the Guatemala I remembered from previous visits. It's difficult to adequately describe a rural Guatemalan roadside town. Cement block and corrugated metal houses, some with brightly coloured walls, always with rebar sprouting out of the tops; feral dogs and chickens roaming around; chicken buses, tuk-tuks, pick-ups, and motorcycles going every which way; coffee drying on small cement patios; women wearing their beautifully woven dresses unique to the region with the men in old jeans and t-shirts; painted signs for the ubiquitous Gallo beer, storefront signage sponsored by multinational soda companies, children playing along the road; car part shops; dust; music blaring; garbage.

[Chicken bus]

We turned left off the Pan-American Highway at the town of Santo Domingo, and before long we were at the gate of Finca El Injerto. El Injerto is the coffee version of Rivendell. The idyllic house, gardens, and wet-mill are surrounded by mountains on every side, and the water source for the mill runs through it all. The Elrond of this particular Rivendell is Arturo Aguirre Jr., known as Yuyo. He was there to greet us with his ever-present boxer, Lalo (Lalo is the only dog I've ever seen that eats coffee cherries- he devours them at every possible opportunity, seeds and all. Needless to say, Lalo is a very active dog).

[Finca El Injerto]

Before lunch, Yuyo showed us around the wet mill. There had been some changes since my last visit. Amongst other things, the place for the delivery of cherries had moved, coffee washing machines had been introduced to replace washing in channels, and closed containers for fermentation had been installed. The Aguirres are always pushing forward-- always adopting new ways of improving quality and efficiency, even as they keep the timeless quality of the mill and farm.

[The wet mill]

[Newer closed fermenters]

[Lalo, the coffee-eating dog, on the drying patio]

[One of the mechanical dryers in the mill]

[Incredible tiny black Mayan bees.  They make honey but they don’t sting!]

[Baby plants at the nursery]

After a delicious lunch of chicken and rice (with the ever-present home-made hot sauce full of citrus and cilantro), Yuyo took us to see the pickers delivering cherry to the mill. The pickers are directed to pick only the ripest cherries, but the Aguirres pay more for this so the farm attracts the best pickers in the area. The bags of cherries are inspected for ripeness, weighed, and then the fruit is dropped into channels where the floaters are sorted out. The coffee then goes through the de-pulping machine, and then into tiled fermentation tanks (or the new closed fermenters). It just so happened that on the day we toured the mill, they were processing the “El Tanque” Bourbon micro-lot that we release every year at Thanksgiving!

[Delivering and weighing the day’s picking]

[Into the de-pulping machine]

[El Tanque fermenting!]

After a rest, we sat with Yuyo on the balcony over a glass of Zacapa and chatted about the coffee business, his father, his family, JJ Bean, and other things. Then we had a delicious supper of braised meat tacos made with warm (and always homemade) tortillas.

[Spence pinching himself, hoping he doesn’t wake up]

Early the next morning, as the sun was just peaking over the tops of the mountains, we went down to see the staff moving the coffee from the soaking tanks onto the patio for drying (during this, we were sipping El Injerto coffee from El Injerto mugs... at El Injerto!). During the soaking after fermentation, the coffee begins to sprout, like barley being malted. I had never heard of this step before.

Breakfast was the traditional scrambled eggs with tomato and onion, beans, and fried plantains. I couldn't get enough of the plantains, especially smothered in the coffee flower honey produced at the farm. Pure ambrosia. 

After breakfast, all seven of us hopped onto the back of a pickup truck and went on a survey of the farm. Up we climbed, up to about 6,200 feet. The pictures simply don't do justice to the stunning views. Along the way, we passed the houses of people who permanently live on the farm, and the housing the Aguirres provide for pickers to stay when they come for the season (El Injerto also has a dedicated room just for making tortillas to send out to the pickers!). We passed many varieties, including a yellow pacamara that was a natural mutation. Way up at the top, we tasted some ripe geisha cherries; it was like eating fuzzy peaches candy.

[Arturo Jr. surveying the farm]

At El Injerto, the area above where the coffee is planted is kept as a natural forest reserve. Of the 750 hectares of farm, 400 hectares remain forest. This helps with achieving El Injerto's carbon neutral status. After chewing on the geisha cherries, Yuyo led us on a walk through the forest. After a quick snack, we made our way to the area of the farm where our El Tanque bourbon is planted. Way up at 6000 feet, this area is named after the cement tank that collects rainwater during the rainy season. This area holds a very special place in our hearts, and walking up there from the truck was something like a coffee pilgrimage for us. Standing there at El Tanque, with the stunning mountain vista before us, knowing that the fruit on the trees is destined for JJ Bean, was enough to give us goosebumps.

[El Tanque… the tank for which the coffee lot is named]

[The man]

[Cherries containing precious El Tanque seeds]

Following a siesta after another delicious lunch of well-seasoned pork chops and mashed potatoes, we met in a room above the wet-mill to cup some coffees. On the table were Nativo blend (bourbon and catuai), red catuai, bourbon, SL-28 (a traditional Kenyan variety!) and an Ethiopian heirloom variety. We found the African varieties, planted in the terroir of Huehuetenango, to be a fascinating experience.

[JJ in front of a JJ bag during cupping]

Before the sun set, Yuyo took us to see the hydro-electric plant on the farm. They use it to power the house and mill and also sell electricity to the government for wider use.

That evening, Yuyo lit a huge wood fire for us in the garden. We sipped tequila and rum and enjoyed one another's company-- magical. After a delicious supper of chicken soup, again with plenty of cilantro, we headed off to bed.

On our final morning at El Injerto, Don Arturo Senior arrived with some baristas from their cafes in Guatemala City, with the goal of exposing the staff to the journey of coffee from crop to cup to better serve their customers. The visit with Señor Aguirre was short but sweet, and John expressed our gratitude for both the coffee and the multi-generational relationship between the Aguirres and the Neates.

[Our last cup of El Injerto at El Injerto]

[Our Lady of El Injerto]

[Don Arturo Sr. with generations of JJ]

[Saying our goodbyes]

Guaya'b

After breakfast, Lucasito and Manuel picked us up in the 4x4's for the two-hour drive to the town of Jacaltenango, the home of Asociación Civil Guaya'b. On the way, we passed close to two Mexican border crossings, where kidnappings and murders have been common.  Guaya'b, which means “mutual help” in the local Mayan dialect, is an association of producers from whom we've been buying coffee, through Royal, for the last seven years or so. 

The coffee is consistently excellent in quality from year to year, providing a perfect component for our blends, so we were eager to meet the folks behind it. Guaya'b, which is 25 years old this year, is an association of around 670 producers, 430 of which produce certified organic coffee (the rest produce delicious honey, including coffee blossom honey). When we arrived, we were introduced to the manager Lucas, and the technical coordinator, Luis. We had a coffee and learned a bit about the association from Lucas (thanks to the translating efforts of Nicolas and Brandon).

[The mill at Guaya’b]

[Lucas with John snooping in the background]

After lunch at a local cafe called Kokapeh in Jacaltenango, Luis gave us a tour of the wet mill. Some members of the association use the central mill, while others de-pulp and ferment their own coffee. All the farms in the group are located above a mandatory 1400m, and each member must undergo yearly training for quality and productivity. The coffees are separated into categories between 82 and 86 points based on cupping by a Q Grader. After seeing the mill, we cupped four samples of Guaya'b coffees with their cupper, all of which were very good. Then we tasted some of their enlightening honey before retiring to our hotel.

[Jacaltenango]

[Hollywood outside our lunch spot]

[Luis and some other guy with our JJ hats on]

[Honey!]

The hotel in Jacal was the most “local” of our accommodations. After a little Zacapa happy hour on the roof overlooking the town and the mountains, we walked back to Kokapeh for a round of Gallos and some supper. I took a break from the local cuisine and tried a burger. Despite what John says, it was excellent (he struggled with the undercooked bacon). That night it was difficult to sleep. The roosters were very confused as to what time it was, and the dogs barked and fought until morning. Thankfully, the cheerful staff at Kokapeh were ready to offer us coffee, breakfast, and a stunning view the next morning.

[Jacal from the roof of our hotel]

[Where’s our hotel again?]

After breakfast, Luis took us to see a couple of the producers. We were able to see the pickers at work, and chat with one of the members. It was touching to hear how thankful one producer was to meet some folks that buy and roast and sell his coffee. We were also so thankful to him for all the hard work he put into producing such a good and consistent product.

[Good morning, dogs of Jacaltenango]

[Nice coffee.  Too bad about the view]

[Expert picking]

[Kid in a candy store]

[Bizz ate too many cherries]

[Spence on a casual stroll to meet with a producer]

Before long it was time for the nearly three-hour drive back to the city of Huehuetenango. The road was largely unpaved, and wound up to extremely high elevations in the mountains. Spencer was not well during this drive. He remained in a kind of trance, with his eyes glued to the road and his guts functioning something like a slushy machine. After Spencer's harrowing ordeal, we arrived safe and sound back in Huehuetenango. Before our flight, John took us to see some Mayan ruins! 

[On the way to back to Huehue]

[Spencer was not ok]

[In the town of Huehuetenango]

We met some other very friendly coffee people at the airport in Huehue, and the flight back to Guatemala City was uneventful, other than only half of our bags showing up. As we had to wait for our bags at the airport (and weren't allowed to leave the hangar area), we naturally tried to find a place to have a Gallo while we waited. After some snooping around, we found what appeared to be a pilot's lounge, but it was closed and locked. Determined, we knocked on the door, and a very friendly gentleman invited us in. He let us know that the area we were occupying didn't allow alcohol, and that he only took cash. We didn't have enough cash on us anyway, so we prepared to head back to the waiting room. But then, in a wondrous display of hospitality, the gentleman brought us 6 beers on the house and said, “welcome to my country.” I gave him a hug, and we left what cash we had (thanks Nic!) as a tip.

[The flight back to Guatemala City]

After a blessed shower at the nicest Holiday Inn I’ve stayed at, we spent our last night in Guatemala at a local steakhouse before retiring and heading home the next day.

[Our last look at Guatemala City]

Conclusion

Going to the source of that precious thing that fuels our life and work is a thrill that will never get old. Visiting the land and the people that produce the coffee we roast fills us with a gratitude that cannot be adequately expressed in words. Trips like this rekindle the fire in us to fulfill our mission to honour people through great coffee, and to try to extend some of the hospitality we were shown to our own customers. We are the final link between the producers and our customers. This is a solemn responsibility, and this trip has reinvigorated our resolve to joyfully fulfil it.