Notes: Pecan, Chocolate, Toffee

Origin: El Escobal, San Miguel, Mataquescuintla, Jalapa 
Producer: Reye Torres
Farm: Santa Fe
Process: Washed
Altitude: 1650 MASL
Variety: Catuai, Pache San Ramon

PROCESSING DETAILS:

Cherries are picked at peak ripeness before being floated in water to remove all the under ripe fruit. Next, the coffee is depulped using a communal ecopulper and the seeds are fermented for 50 - 65 hours in sealed bags. The coffee is then moved to raised beds where it is dried for between 18-20 days. Once drying is complete, the parchment coffee is stored in sealed plastic bags, inside another thicker nylon bag to ensure the humidity remains stable.

ABOUT THE CO-OP:

Cafe Colis Resistencia is the name created by Alex Reynoso to identify coffee producing members of the Indigenous Xinka community around Mataquescuintla who are interested in developing an international market for their coffee, and therefore finally receiving fair prices for their work. The name pays homage to their ongoing peaceful resistance to the Escobal silver mine, built without their consent and managed by the Canadian-based extractive firm, Pan-American Silver.

While theoretically the price of cherry is decided in relation to the New York Stock Exchange coffee commodity price, really anything goes for these buyers. As producers have little to no option, they simply sell to whoever they can, and accept whatever price is offered. In 2022, we saw massive increases in price as the C market boomed. Despite that, we still set prices that were above what was locally available and kept those same prices as a base for this year. That means that any grower, regardless of their quality, received 1750 Quetzal / quintal of parchment coffee, and those who invested in their processing set ups received 1850.

ABOUT REYES:

At age 65, Reyes is one of the oldest members of the Cafe Colis Resistencia group, but has been one of the earliest entrants into making the effort to sell his coffee in parchment for the international market and has always been vocal about the need to make an effort to improve and try new things as a means of developing a better option for the sale of their coffee. This isn’t always the case with older producers, as they’ve often quite set in their ways and are reluctant to make steps towards a new form of working. Reyes began growing coffee in 1968, and he counts himself as a third generation grower meaning that his family has been growing coffee in this area for close to a century. Just like everyone in this area, spent his entire life selling his coffee in cherry to local buyers, unaware of where it went or with any control over the prices offered. In these days, it was possible for growers like Reyes to live sustainably off of their coffee in this mode of sales as the production per tree was very high, diseases were low, and the costs for managing coffee were also low.

Contrast that to now when Reyes and the rest of the members of his community are fighting for their very existence against the encroaching plagues of coffee leaf rust and other diseases that now run rampant in the area. As Reyes shared this year, he saw roya attack their farm the hardest it ever has, claiming 50% of his trees in certain areas of his farm. Still, Reyes is not deterred. Asked about his goals and dreams for coffee growing he answered the following:
“Coffee has helped me to obtain my home, and other things in my life and it has helped me to live better economically. I will continue to fight and overcome these challenges to give my family a better future. I want to give my gratitude to our buyers for the support they bring me in buying my cafe. God bless you, and that you continue to purchase my coffee.”

Pricing Transparency:

Farmgate price: 1850 Quetzal / quintal parchment coffee.
Regional farmgate price (2023): 1100 Quetzal / quintal parchment coffee.
FOB Price: $3.41USD/lb

We paid Semilla: $5.15 USD/lb