La Cooperativa San Martín Jilotepeque

San Martín Jilotepeque is a town located 1.5hrs north of Chimaltenango. To get there you drive down, then up, a massive ravine. Trucks often struggle to not overheat their brakes while managing the crazy switchbacks. From there, the farms are often another hour away from the main town center with rocky terrain. 4x4 is a must! That’s relevant because since moving parchment in this region is so difficult, there aren’t many wet mills, or places for producers to process their cherries. Without wet mills, it means the only other option for producers is to sell in cherry format instead.

Historically speaking, producers in this region have almost always sold their cherries at the coyote or street level. That’s not necessarily a bad thing but it comes with some disadvantages. Selling to coyotes, although they provide the instant payment benefit, means receiving a lower value for your coffee compared to selling in parchment. It also means their coffees will be processed elsewhere and sold off under more recognizable regional names like Antigua for example.

Compound this scenario by 20-30 years and you’ll find that this new group of producers are zealous to provide better producer-level access to wet mills to have their coffees processed locally and sold giving due recognition to the region of Jilotepeque. Tangibly, this means three things that aren’t easy. 1). Building wet mills. 2). Organizing producers ensuring benefit to all. 3). Finding markets/relationships to sell their coffee giving the long-overdue recognition to coffees from Jilotepeque.

1). On the wet mill side of things, this is a huge investment and it often takes producers that are willing to take that financial risk. It certainly helps when they’ve got the long-term vision big enough to justify the investment and more producers around them to support their decision. As of last harvest, there’s now 3 wet mills in operation processing the lots we’ve historically purchased; Magnolia, Colina, and Sapito.

2). On the cooperative organizational structure side of things, this isn’t an easy task as well. Prior cooperatives in Jilotepeque have sadly been known for corruption or systems that benefit some while taking advantage of the larger group. Antonio Medina, the current cooperative president, has made amazing strides to ensure impartiality. Whenever we talk with Tony, he’s quick to involve the bigger group into the conversation; which we love.

3). Lastly, market access has always been a challenging topic in Guatemala. Producers without export licensing are often hindered or unable to sell directly to the outside world and by default are limited to receiving c-market pricing. Historically this has often incentivized poor plant nutrition and lower intentionality to harvesting cherries ripe. This is an especially true scenario known to many small-to-medium sized producers. So the ability to export is often the first hurdle to accomplish. COSAMAJ was able to do so with us in 2020. The second hurdle from there is building up that relationship and market access.

In essence, the exporting system has often limited producers or regions from marketing their own coffees. Without the ability to market, there’s no regional recognition. Their coffees are often sold off under different regional names. Without regional recognition, there’s often less buyers. With fewer buyers, there less opportunities for producers to make investments; thus keeping producers stuck in the same system of selling their cherries at the coyote level. COSAMAJ exists essentially to break this cycle particularly for the region of Jilotepeque in mind.

That’s where we come in to work collaboratively with COSAMAJ to represent, build up roaster relationships, and sell their coffees. It’s ultimately our collective goal to provide better market access outlets for producers and to do so in a way that honors them. Not just though the prices we pay but through how their coffees are represented. For COSAMAJ, a big part of their desire to work with us is our desire to advocate for and represent the emerging coffees from the region of Jilotepeque to roasters in the US.

Particularly in this high priced market, COSAMAJ had opportunities to sell their coffees at perhaps a higher price point this year. They chose to forgo on those short-term opportunities because they ultimately see a bigger, long-term vision in mind with us as Collaborative Origins Imports. We were blown away by their willingness to meet us in the middle. It’s because of this that we’re able to offer their coffees at a semi-more affordable price point given the high market.

In ending, their desire to better represent coffees from their region, their resolve to invest into better wet mill access/infrastructure, their transparency to form an impartial cooperative, and their ability to think long-term foregoing on the temporary to invest into long-term relationships are all reasons why we’ve fallen in love with COSAMAJ. We truly consider it an honor to represent their coffees and to work alongside them pursuing Better Relationships, Better Coffees.

To learn more, take a look at their available lots or reach out and send us a message!