Update from the Field - Santa Maria de Jesus

At the beneficio - Front R - L: Pocho, Denis, Flavio, China;
Back R - L: Manuel, Robin, Les, Eric, Julio

Julio at the beneficio
(the mountain in the background is called the rooster)

Installing the generators to get the lights and depulper running

The beneficio with coffee drying. Volcan Picaya is in the background

Les Stoneham of Deeper Roots Development and Jamie Stoneham (owner, John Clark's daughter) is currently traveling in Guatemala to work the farmer's of our delicious La Armonia Hermosa coffee. Here's an update from their trip.

As we hear on the news of negative degrees in Tennessee, we are here in Guatemala with 50 - 75 degree weather. We couldn't ask for better temperatures. Just as great as the temperature is, the atmosphere around the newly constructed beneficio (coffee wet mill) is buzzing with excitement. Today we brought down the mechanical depulper and installed the generators to power the lights and the depulper.  

The dream of having their own wet mill is finally coming to fruition. All of the hard work and planning is about to pay off as the picking season is about to come into full swing. Soon they will be able to use the mechanical depulper instead of the bike powered depulpers which will cut the processing time by 2/3rds and provides a more eco-friendly alternative when washing the coffee. This depulper will also improve the quality of the coffee through better sorting, washing, and consistent pulping.

We are very excited, just like they are, for this new addition to their newly constructed beneficio, and look forward to seeing Julio's field later this week.