Bella Vista

Beneficio / farms

Bella Vista / Hunapu, La Folie, Santa Cruz, Los Santos
Country

Guatemala
Region

Antigua
Varieties

Bourbon and caturra
Crop

January - March
Cooperation

Since 2015

Beneficio

Beneficio Bella Vista is a processing plant near the colonial city of Antigua, run by fourth-generation producer and agronomist Luis Pedro Zelaya. The main focus of the work is receiving and purchasing ripe cherries from family farms and small growers in the area, then processing them to the final stage and preparing them for export (through the export company Zelcafé). In recent years, Bella Vista has expanded to include its own roasting plant, café and production of soft drinks based on cascara (dried coffee cherry skins).

The Bella Vista plant has been owned by the Luis Pedro family for more than a century and is one of the main drivers of specialty coffee in Guatemala. The plant's main strengths are its uncompromising emphasis on quality and consistency in processing microlots, as well as agronomic services for small growers. In recent years, Luis Pedro and his team have been vehemently trying to change established practices according to the principles of regenerative agriculture.

Producer

Luis Pedro Zelaya and his right hand Melanie Herrera have been our partners in Guatemala since 2015. Luis Pedro studied at the famous Zamorano Agronomic University in Honduras together with Graciano Cruz, on whose farms we had the opportunity to live and work. Melanie then lived and studied in the USA.

Bella Vista and the work of Luis Pedro and Melanie is synonymous with consistency for us. In 10 years of cooperation, we have never received a microlot that had any defect or that tasted old upon arrival. Although Bella Vista does not experiment with various funky processes or try to grow modern varieties and produce competitive coffees, its strength lies in the production of large quantities of fantastically high-quality washed coffees. Thanks to this, coffees from Bella Vista are one of the mainstays of our offer every year.

Farms

Luis Pedro manages more than 20 coffee farms around Antigua. From the family farm Bella Carmona, which is one of the oldest and most famous in the country, to the "urban" farms Santa Cruz and La Folie, from which we buy various microlots every year. At the same time, he buys cherries from dozens of growing families and creates his main regional blend under the name Hunapu. This program also functions as an educational platform with agronomic support for small growers who live at the foot of the Agua (Hunapú in the original language) and Acatenango volcanoes.

Processing

The microlot we selected and purchased during our annual January visit comes from traditional Bourbon coffee trees. The cherries are taken to the Bella Vista factory, located on the outskirts of Antigua, each day after harvest. The cherries first go into the peelers, then ferment in concrete fermentation tanks for 24 hours. Subsequent drying takes place in the Bella Vista factory's concrete patios overlooking the Agua volcano, and simultaneously on "African beds" in covered drying rooms.

Fun Fact

During our annual visit to the Bella Vista facility, we sample more than 100 microlots, or daily pickings, from individual farms. These lots are then blended into larger lots based on the tasting results and packed into a container.

Bella Vista

Beneficio / farms

Country

Region

Varieties

Crop

Cooperation

For us, coffees from the Bella Vista plant are the best example of high-quality washed coffees of traditional varieties from Central America.

Beneficio

Producer

Farms

Processing

Fun Fact

Read our blog post (CZ):

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