Guatemala Catalan de Las Mercedes

A pioneer of the coffee trade in Guatemala since its inception in 1851, Finca Catalan de Las Mercedes was originally owned and operated by Don Franciso del Rosal Marquez. Today, the farm is owned and managed by Marquez’s great-great granddaughter, Ruth Maria de Los Angeles Martinez de Hammond, and her son Nicholas Hammond.

Nicholas’s grandfather, Jaime Martinez, was gifted a small parcel of Ethiopian coffee seeds from an East African delegate visiting Guatemala in the early 1980’s. Jaime planted these seeds throughout Catalan’s coffee fields, and they were all but forgotten for decades.

In 2012, Catalan placed in the top finalists of the Guatemalan Cup of Excellence and attention was re-focused on exactly what coffee was growing there. Anacafé, Guatemala’s national coffee association, sent surveyors to the farm and identified these rare Heirloom trees among the cultivated varieties.

Rich and smooth with notes of dutch cocoa, sun-dried apricot, brandy and a hint of spice. Unique and delicious espresso.