Golden Kiwi ~ Anacafe 14 from El Llano in Acatenango, Guatemala

Producers: Raul Pérez w/ family (Henio, Mercedes, and José Pérez)
Farm: El Llano
Place: Acatenango, Guatemala
Variety: Anacafé 14
Processing: Washed
Harvest: Mar 2023
Tasting notes: golden kiwi acidity, herbal tea, burdock root
Exported by the Pérez family

With crisp golden kiwi and anchoring vanilla & burdock, this generously bright and hearty variety is grown by the Pérez family on their farm El Llano in Acatenango, Guatemala.

This is a hybrid called Anacafé 14, a natural cross between a Catimor variety (Timor hybrid 832/1 x Caturra) with Pacamara, first found growing around 1980 in the department of Chiquimula, Guatemala.

Henio and his wife Mercedes, along with their two sons, Raul and José have been growing incredible coffees for 5 generations on their farm Finca La Soledad. Laura and Nate were introduced to the Perez family and their coffees from La Soledad separately (before knowing each other actually!) and were able to visit together before starting Luna. El Llano is located only 10km away from La Soledad and was purchased from Henio’s brother around 2014. El Llano is Raul’s project and provides him the opportunity to explore his interest in regenerative agriculture, soil health, and biodiversity intiatives as well as investigating the potential for a wider range of varieites.

Anacafe 14 is a hybrid variety that is considered to be a natural cross (meaning it happened spontaneously in nature) between a Catimor variety (Timor Hybrid 832/1 x Caturra) and Pacamara, with a unique cup profile that rides the line between both its Catimor and Pacamara sides, the Anacafé trees at El Llano are picked when so ripe they’re purple – the last trees to be picked even though they aren’t even planted at the highest portions of the farm.

Picked when so ripe they’re purple, the Anacafe 14 cherries are loaded up in a truck and driven down the road to La Soledad to be processed as a washed coffee. The coffee is depulped and allowed to ferment in a ceramic-tiled tank without water for 45-50 hours until the sticky mucilage comes off clean. The coffee is washed with clean water and dried on raised beds.