Guatemala

The Cup: Rich and balanced with notes of berry, prune, red apple, and deep chocolate sweetness.

Variety:   Anacafe 14, Bourbon, Catuai, Pache, San Ramon

Processing: Washed

The Region

The region of Ayarza is a special one, landmarked by the drastic landscape and cold blue water from the Laguna de Ayarza and Laguna Azul. The lake was formed by two massive volcanos that collapsed and formed a large crater.
The legends surrounding this lake are numerous and the bottom has never been found. There is a large white rock of a petrified woman who didn’t follow the orders of Jesus. In short, there are simply too many good stories about Ayarza to do it justice!

Olam Guatemala always knew the region had massive potential to produce specialty coffee, but the cups that we found were usually solid but unsurprising. Two years ago we rented a wet mill at 1,500 meters on a RFA certified farm. The quality coming from our washed coffee was much better than we expected. Next we tried some naturals by buying cherry in Ayarza and transporting it to a region that had plenty of patios and good wind for drying. This has now been extended to include honey process alongside experimental lots.

These bags are made in the UK from cellophane film that has been accredited biodegradable & compostable to 'BS EN 13432' and 'OK Compost'. They are also approved for Anaerobic digestion (ISO 15985) & Marine biodegradation ASTM D6691-09. The film has also been tested to ensure that once composted there are no adverse effects on the plant growth.

What is Cellulose? 
Cellulose is a substance from a plants cell wall, this can be extracted from waste plant material to produce the bio film used in these bags. Once used, these bags will biodegrade producing CO2 and H2O, these 2 compounds are combined with sunlight and converted into energy by plants in a process called photosynthesis. The resulting tree growth can then be used to produce more bags.   

BIODEGRADATION INFO: 
Our cellulose bags are fully biodegradable and compostable which means that they break down to CO2, H20 and biomass which can then be reused in the eco system to make new plants. This will happen in either in home or commercial composting but in commercial composting the temperature will be higher and the process is much quicker. In a colder home composter it will just take longer.