Guatemala - El Vergel, Natural Espresso

Guatemala - El Vergel, Natural Espresso

Rich and intense, notes of dark chocolate, brown sugar, plum. A wonderful syrupy espresso.

$21.00

In Stock, shipping within 24 hours.

  • Organic Certified Organic Certified
  • Glyphosate Free Glyphosate Free
  • Grown Under Shade Grown Under Shade
  • Selective Hand Picking Selective Hand Picking

Finca El Vergel - which translates to “The Orchard” - is aptly named. El Vergel was established in 2013 as an experimental coffee farm, to serve as a variety garden and platform for experimentation and demonstration of organic farming, cultivation and processing techniques for other local farmers in the San Marcos region.

Processed under the gaze of a stunning waterfall, this Natural Processed microlot is made up of 100% Caturra variety cherries, which are hand picked, sorted and then dried in specialised drying greenhouses on raised beds. All coffee at El Vergel is grown using Certified Organic farming methods, free from all chemicals and pesticides. 

El Vergel boasts a dedicated commercial composting facilities - a “biofabrica” - and is the host location of a World Coffee Research variety trial assessing the viability of different coffee varieties to similar high altitude, volcanic environments.

Producer JUAN FRANCISCO GONZALES
Processing EL VERGEL
Varieties 100% CATURRA
Harvest DECEMBER 2024
Altitude 1,640 MASL
Region SAN MARCOS
20.0g
ground coffee dose
29
seconds
44g
espresso shot yield
93.0
brew temperature

This recipe was developed on a La Marzoco Linea PB, using a Anfim SPII+ grinder. We encourage you to play around to meet your personal tastes and equipment setup.

Finca El Vergel was purchased by FECCEG - another forward-thinking initiative from General Manager and Founder Juan Francisco Gonzales - around 7 years ago from a doctor who owned the property as a hobby farm. Though the previous owner did have some coffee planted on the farm, the property was run down and left fairly wild upon Juan Francisco taking over.

Juan Francisco’s goal for El Vergel has always been to operate the farm as a model farm, nature reserve and education centre - essentially to show and tell both coffee producers and non-coffee tourists about the benefits of organic agriculture, conservation and biodiversity.

They approached El Vergel with an ecological conservation mindset first and foremost. The farm is blessed to have over a dozen species of both native and introduced species of orchid, as well as a broad range of native trees, legumes, flowers and ornamentals growing. Guatemala’s national bird, the Quetzal, as well as numerous species of Tucan all call El Vergel home.

A model farm, nature reserve, and education centre under the gaze of a stunning waterfall

Variety
VARIETY

Caturra

Process
PROCESS

Natural

Altitude
ALTITUDE

1,640 masl

With the help of young green thumb Natanael Josue Velasquez Monzon, who acts as farm manager, Juan Francisco has turned El Vergel into exactly what its name denotes - an Orchard. With eight plots of coffee trees, each at different elevations and trialling different tree spacing to promote optimal growth and health. Older Catarrh plots are thriving, as well as newer Anacafe 14, some young Gesha and Loriña. Perhaps most surprising is the two plots of Maragogype that Juan Francisco has planted on the farm!

Since Maragogype is well known as a difficult and poor-yielding variety, we asked Juan Francisco why he chose to grow “such a difficult variety as his core experimental plots?”

His reply: “If it were easy to grow, it would not be much of an experiment!”

This attitude belies so much of the approach to the ethos at El Vergel - they are trying new and challenging ideas in a safe environment, whose yields will go on to assist producer members learn and adapt their crop safely and with full organic integrity.

A model farm, nature reserve, and education centre under the gaze of a stunning waterfall
Ecologically responsible coffee.

Ecologically responsible coffee.

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