88.00

San Antonio de Esquipulas and annexes were founded in January 1965.  I, Francisco Ovalle  Mendez, being the current owner, decided to give it this name because of my devotion to San Antonio de Padua in honor of the crucified Lord of Esquipulas. 

The property is located in NIM JUL (Joya Grande), Democracy Municipality, Department of Huehuetenango, Guatemala .  Its coordinates are  NORTH LATITUDE 15'36'39.17 "WEST LONGITUDE 91'49'14 .19" and ALTITUDE 1.480 to  2,000 meters above sea level.

Currently, I work the land with the cooperation, efficiency, and expertise of my sons, who are the second generation in this business, as well as with my reliable and trusted employees whom I have known since the founding of the farm and not to forget, the blessing of our God.    I have taught my children and employees to love coffee, from the simplicity of enjoying a good cup of coffee in the company of friends and family or in business meetings, to the social important and economic aspects of what it means to be a source of work that is decent and to always take into account the environmental factors and strive to preserve its flora and fauna which we endeavor to rebuild.

Among our crop practices, I should mention that it is for us essential to handle our coffee with special care, from the selection of the seed to the harvesting of the grains.  This is done with the strictest control, avoiding the use of pesticides, a process that has cost us more than 15 years.  We are so very proud to say that we have found the perfect balance between pests and their natural enemies.

Recognizing the importance of farming techniques such as hedgerows, ditches and contour curves in which we have implemented to prevent deterioration of the soil, we were able to create a good incorporation of organic material, which is produced by species shade trees, hedgerows and waste material from pruning of the trees.

It has been observed that despite the amount of light and the height they are, the shade trees have a very important role for the generation of organic material and to achieve a perfect balance of light and plant ventilation, obtaining as a result the even ripening of the grain and making it easier to harvest at the point of perfect ripeness. We have for this process the benefit of a wet ecological environment and patios for drying the grain.