María Cardona

About This Coffee

Strong personal connections play a big part in our sourcing decisions, so when our great friend Andrea went to work a harvest season with renowned Guatemalan exporters Primavera, it provided the perfect opportunity to revisit the sublime coffees of Huehuetenango. This washed caturra from María Cardona Matías is classic Huehue through and through - it’s round and syrupy in the cup, and is punctuated by a crisp acidity, reminding us of nougat, assam tea and plum. María started cultivating coffee in 2019, having previously only grown corn and beans. Over the ensuing years she has been buying small plots of land, and now harvests just over one hectare of coffee. The individual plots are geographically dispersed around the area, but are all processed at their plot above the village of Petatan. Processing starts around 2pm, with the coffee first being hand-sorted for defects, before being placed in large containers to ferment for 24-36 hours. The coffee is washed, then sits in clean water for a second night to ensure any remaining fruit flesh is removed. It is then dried on patios in full sun from 7am until 4pm each day for around 4 days until the requisite moisture content has been achieved. The result of María's careful processing is an elegant and balanced coffee that showcases classic Huehue at it's finest.