Don Gerson came to know us at a coffee conference in Antigua. Since then, it’s felt more like a friendship and a partnership than simply business. This year, we’re excited to represent this new relationship with 5 lots from Finca San Rafael located in Hoja Blanca, Huehuetenango. Of these 5, you’ll find 4 “blow your socks off” naturals and 1 solid washed coffee representing the collective coffees of 7 farming families found in the region of Hoja Blanca, Huehuetenango.

Background:

Don Gerson’s Grandfather, Eleodoro Villatoro, was the 1st coffee producer to cultivate coffee in Hoja Blanca back in 1950. Originally, he tried growing corn in the main city of Huehuetenango but found the terrain too flat which was prone to flooding when the winter rains came. So he eventually moved to the area of Hoja Blanca and began growing both corn and coffee. Hoja Blanca is located about 5 hours north of Huehuetenango and is super close to the Guatemala/Mexico border near Cuilco. There, you’ll find dozens of volcano-shaped mountains, deep valleys, switchback red dirt roads, and beautiful lush Avatar-like forests. We tried taking drone footage and go-pro shots of the area of Hoja Blanca and we still feel like they did a terrible job at capturing the beauty of this region. We’ve been working with coffee for 8 years now and we’re both convinced that Hoja Blanca is perhaps the most beautiful part of Guatemala that we’ve seen so far. 

Hoja Blanca first got its name in the late 1700s. Back in that timeframe, the valleys were filled with plants that have since gone extinct. The bottom side of its leaves where actually white. The settlers thus named this region Hoja Blanca or “White Leaf” in English. 

Deep within these forests and up along the sides of the mountains is where you’ll find Don Gerson’s lands filled with a variety of Bourbon, Maresllesa, Pacamara, and Geisha plants that he’s particularly proud of. (His wife and close friends even joke about his Geisha plants being Don Gerson’s second love after his wife.) Don Gerson began working in coffee shortly after graduating from a car mechanic school in 1990 and then took over Finca San Rafael after his Mother and Father passed in the early 2000s. It wasn’t until 2019 however that Don Gerson developed a passion for Specialty Coffee. In 2019, Don Gerson decided to enter a lot into the Cup of Excellence and won 19th place that year with a Washed Anaerobic Gesha. At that time, Don Gerson didn’t actually have an export license but due to the excellence of that lot, Anacafe expedited the process and awarded Don Gerson with his own export license. 

Now empowered with the ability to market and export his own coffee, Don Gerson has gotten excited about the opportunity to enter in more lots into the cup of excellence and begin building relationships with interested buyers as a way to better sustain the farm, his family, and the surrounding community in Hoja Blanca.

Where is Finca San Rafael at now? What are Don Gerson’s dreams for the future?

When asked this question, Don Gerson stated, “My dreams are to grow in the area of learning/lessons about fermentation. I’ve experimented a little but I want to continue because I know it’s a very vast area of development within the theme of coffee production.”

This response blew us away. When most people might want something like a new car/truck, Don Gerson wants to simply learn more. So admirable.

Misc Notes:

Some of the challenges Hoja Blanca faces are directly correlated to its terrain. Due to its steep mountainsides, landslides occur quite often causing plants to be uprooted and roads washing away while presenting a danger to the community living in the valley. Additionally, laborers are hard to find in all of Guatemala but especially so in Hoja Blanca since it’s such a remote area. Matching its difficult terrain with historically low pricing, many laborers have often opted to emigrate to the US or find work in Guatemala City. Don Gerson is one of the lucky ones in Hoja Blanca where, although it’s been a challenge, his willingness to pay advantageous prices has helped to keep several of his long-term workers close by. That higher cost places Don Gerson in a hard place where he also needs to find better market access for his coffees.