Don Ángel. Cafe de Guatemala

Highlights

“Don Ángel is a farm in the municipality of La Libertad, in the Huehuetenango region — an area known for its high altitudes and for producing some of Guatemala's best coffees. The farm carries the name of its first owner, Don Ángel de León, and sits between two steep mountains in La Libertad at an altitude of between 1,700 and 1,900 metres. When Don Ángel retired, Nayo Ovalle bought the farm in 2017 after seeing the enormous potential of the place. The high altitudes, sheltered by the mountains, create an ideal microclimate for producing high-quality coffee: the farm enjoys cool nights and warm days, and is protected from strong winds. Today it produces only three Arabica varieties — Caturra, San Ramón and Bourbon — older traditional varieties. Nayo has always kept a minimalist approach to coffee production; he likes things simple and well done. While some producers replace old varieties with more resistant ones, at Las Alturas they want to preserve the existing trees to keep the complexity of the coffee. Here Caturra, Bourbon and San Ramón — the latter a Typica mutation that adapts well to high altitudes — produce a complex coffee characterised by balance and fruit notes. Nayo Ovalle was born into a family of coffee growers and is a third-generation farmer who has spent his whole life among coffee trees. Today, as an agronomist, he focuses on producing quality coffee, both washed and natural, and is passionate about his land and his coffee. This lot, processed by the fully washed method, captures the essence of the varieties that grow in this environment. Once picked, the cherries are pulped, removing the skin and part of the pulp and leaving the beans covered in a natural layer of mucilage rich in sugars and organic compounds. The coffee then goes into water tanks for a fermentation controlled by the conditions of the process, during which the activity of microorganisms and enzymes breaks down the mucilage adhering to the parchment. This stage is fundamental to preparing the bean for later washing and to developing a clean, balanced profile, keeping fermentation-derived flavours from dominating the coffee's natural expression. Once this phase ends, the remaining mucilage is removed and the coffee is spread on patios to dry slowly for approximately 14 days, keeping its parchment as natural protection. During drying, the progressive reduction in moisture stabilises the beans and preserves their qualities before storage and preparation for export.”