Arrival

     It’s 5:30AM in Guatemala City, just one hour behind our home base where we flew out of Newark Airport yesterday. I’m sleepy, but excitedly hop into the car on our way to the heliport with our team: Co-founder of Afficionado Coffee Roasters, Adam Bossie, and Head of Research and Development, Peter Turso. They seemingly slip into where they left off last trip, making easy banter and talking coffee markets with our host and longtime friend, Sam Coto. Sam is a third generation coffee professional, named after his grandfather Samuel Coto Escobar who, in 1977, purchased the 347-hectare Rainforest Alliance Certified farm we will be visiting today– Finca El Platanillo. 

En Helicóptero

     Despite getting to the heliport early, we detour for coffee and smoothies - passing time while the morning fog clears and we are given the go-ahead for takeoff. We put on our headsets, buckle up and take off past one of the Coto family’s other farms near the city of Antigua.

     On our right, a volcano quietly burps out puffs of grey smoke. Sam narrates the whole time, pointing out various crops and planting methods while we have the bird's-eye view. As opposed to some of the clear-cut, neat-rowed farms we fly over, El Platanillo is not obviously a farm from overhead. Only the coffee drying patios and washing facilities stand out, their painted roofs announcing our arrival. We touch down in the only open field in sight, which doubles as a soccer pitch for the locals. I pull my sleeves down and slather on sunscreen and bug spray as we make our way to the pickup truck where we are introduced to farm manager, Riquelme Agustin, and agronomist/ engineer, Elder Orozco. 

     Riquelme (above) comes from a lineage of coffee professionals at El Platanillo. His grandfather started here as a coffee picker, beginning the occupational tradition for each generation since. Elder studied agronomy abroad at a top Brazilian coffee school before returning home to Guatemala.

 

Breakfast

     We all climb into the flatbed, surrounded with supports so we can get a 360 view while we hold on, bouncing down the road toward the farm house.

     Warm tortillas, eggs with tomato, beans, queso fresco, and little peppers adorn the breakfast table. We feast while admiring the view. A hat that belonged to patriarch Samuel Coto Escobar respectfully watches over the scene next to a sign reading “No Tocar."

 

 

The Farm

     Satiated, we are ready to see where Riquelme oversees the cultivation of 153 coffee varietals. We stop at Yellow Icatu, Marsellesa, Pacamara, and Geisha beans and  sample the differences in the flavor of their fruits by nibbling on the cascara layer of the coffee cherries. I’m surprised by the variety of flavors – from green pepper to tropical dragonfruit notes.

     Peter serves as photographer, and we make special stops to capture the exquisitely ripe, deep red coffee cherries. Afficionado has purchased beans from this farm for several years. Coffee from this area is the heart of our Liberator Blend, as well as for single origin, El Platanillo, Las Flores. As we walk between plants in the Las Flores plot, Sam, Riquelme, and Elder remark how this plot has grown up over the years. Further down, folks are meticulously hand selecting the ripest cherries for picking. We observe their process and exchange a few words of admiration, already bonded by our shared labor with coffee. I feel deeply connected in this moment, touching the exact plants which have nourished the beans I drink daily back in New York, and meeting the people on the very front end of the farm-to-cup process. I could easily stay all afternoon, but a storm is rolling in, as is common in this equatorial climate. It’s time for us to head back.

Keri Gould is the Head of Education and Social Program Development for Afficionado Coffee Roasters.