San Antonio Washed

San Antonio and Chicharras were originally two distinct farms that were purchased in 2009 by Eduardo ‘Teddy’ Esteve. They are now part of the Guadalupe Zajú coffee estate located in southern Chiapas (Soconusco region), on the Ruta del Café riding along the Guatemalan border.

In 2009, the owner started to plant mostly productive varieties to make the farm sustainable; it was not until the rust problem of 2012 and 2013 that they renewed the plantation with hybrid and Marsellesa varieties. Today it is a 100% rust free and resistant farm. 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.). This pattern is also used in Guadalupe Zajú, La Gloria, and Chanjul.

The coffee at San Antonio Chicharras 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. The coffee is pulped using an eco pulper, which separates ripe and underripe/underweight cherries. After pulping, coffee is sorted by density and delivered to separate tanks to ferment between 15 to 40 hours, depending on the weather at the time. After fermentation, the mucilage is removed with water. Due to a very humid climate (sometimes 99% relative humidity), drying the parchment on patios can be challenging. That’s why almost all the export quality coffee is dried using mechanic dryers at a slow and constant temperature of 40 degrees until reaching a moisture content of 10-11%.