With it rich volcanic soil, mountainous terrain and varied micro-climates, Guatemala is a perfect country for coffee cultivation. Guatemalan green coffee beans are the delight of roasters and coffee drinkers alike. With its wide array of growing regions Guatemala encourages a diverse range of outstanding flavor profiles. Together with our in-country sister company, we’re proud to source some of the best unroasted Guatemalan coffees.
Guatemalan Coffee History
Centuries of agricultural history have transformed Guatemala into the spectacular coffee origin it is today. Jesuit missionaries brought coffee plants to their monasteries in Antigua in the mid-1700s to decorate their monasteries. But when the economy started to fail, coffee overtook indigo as Guatemala’s main cash crop. The rise of coffee as a cash crop was bolstered by inputs from large European landowners who helped launch Guatemala as one of the world’s leading coffee producers. Coffee production in Guatemala became a major industry in the 19th century.
It wasn’t until the 1950s that past inequalities were addressed by the Agrarian Reform Law, which redistributed land from the estates to the indigenous people who worked them. This sparked the beginning of a violent Guatemalan civil war in 1954 that lasted until 1996, severely hindering progress in the Guatemalan coffee industry.
The Asociación Nacional del Café (ANACAFE) was established in 1960 to represent all the coffee producers in Guatemala. Their work also includes the Analab coffee laboratories and initiatives for coffee research, cultivation, processing, and expansion throughout the country, bringing Guatemala back onto the world stage as an origin with a stellar reputation today.