El Anonal

Orlando Antulio Martínez Samayoa

Orlando Antulio Martínez Samayoa is a Guatemalan coffee farmer in Huehuetenango who grows diverse coffee varieties like Gesha and Pacamara to combat coffee leaf rust. His family began buying land in 1985, and today, he has multiple plots and a wet mill.

Huehuetenango, Guatemala

Huehuetenango (often called ‘Huehue’) is located in the west of Guatemala, on the border with Mexico, and trade across the border thrives. Huehuetenango was the ancient center of the Mam people, and their capital Zaculeu is preserved in the city; Popti speakers can also be found here. After defeating the Mam at Zaculeu, Spanish invaders forced many indigenous people to work in mines and on plantations in this region.

Huehue is very remote and the roads in the region can be difficult; before flights from the city, reaching farms in this area used to take 8-10 hours of bumpy driving in the high mountains. But the altitude of this region, combined with the hot dry winds that blow over from Mexico’s Tehuantepec Plain, create excellent conditions for quality coffee here. Because of the altitudes and remoteness of the region, most farmers process their coffee at home rather than at a central wet mill.

Huehuetenango is known for beans with an intense and pleasant acidity, full body and delightful wine, floral and fruity notes.

Washed

Red cherries are picked and freshly sorted before pulping where over-ripe and under-ripe beans are handpicked and separated before processing. Coffees are pulped and allowed to ferment for 36-48 hours.

The fermented coffee is washed with clean running water, soaked in clean water and then dried for 18 days to retain about 11.5% of moisture. Dried parchment coffee is stored in field warehouse until it is transported for further processing to Addis Ababa. The parchment coffee is processed in dry processing warehouse to remove the husks and the clean beans are packaged in bags for export.

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