Guadalupe Zajú Natural

Guadalupe Zajú is a 310-hectare coffee estate located in southern Chiapas (Soconusco region), on the Ruta del Café riding along the Guatemalan border. Founded in 1945 by Hamburg-born businessman Hans Asmus Luethje and his Peruvian wife, Guadalupe Zajú has always maintained a focus on efficiency and simplicity thus ensuring a long-lasting balance between the plantation and its surroundings. The owners celebrate its birth by preserving the same focus but adopting new but simple modern methods.

Since 2009, the entire farm has been renovated with new varieties such as Marsellesa and Star Maya after the havoc caused by the rust disease. The philosophy of the current owner – Eduardo ‘Teddy’ Esteve – is to produce coffee in a sustainable way by regularly investing in infrastructure for the benefit of farm workers (free schooling for children, canteen, small store, rest areas, etc.).

The coffee at Guadalupe Zaju is 100% shade-grown (the farm is Rainforest Alliance and C.A.F.E. Practices certified). Shade is well-managed and designed to be multi-purpose. Magnolia from Guatemala has been selected due to the fact that it is evergreen and has less leaf fall. Besides, it is a tree with a relatively high canopy.

All coffee on the farm is selectively hand-harvested and sorted once delivered to the farm’s mill. This batch is a blend of varieties Marsellesa, Hybrids, and StarMaya. The process in the wet mill was made at peak of harvest (Nov-Dec 2020) when ripening is homogeneous and with higher concentrations of sugars leading to a complex fermentation. After the fermentation process (between 15 to 40 hours depending on the weather), the cherries are dried in raised beds for 3 to 4 days, to remove surface moisture. Temperatures between 20 to 30°C are reached in the raised beds area.

The last part of the drying process is done mechanically in drums for 50 to 60 hours with a constant temperature between 40 to 45°C until the bean moisture content reaches 10 to 10.5%.