The initiation of Finca La Senda, now run by Arnoldo Pérez
Melendez and his wife Maria Eugenia Escobar, dates back to
the 1940’s, when Arnoldo’s father pioneered the plantation
of coffee in the surroundings of the Aldea El Socorro
in Acatenango.
The Finca extends from the borders of the village up to
mount Balàm, the hill of the Jaguar in native language.
Coffee is planted at an altitude between 1550 and 1970
meters, while nature is taking its own course further up
the mountainside, respecting the unique biosphere. Coffee
is harvested on an extension of broadly 27 hectares.
Arnoldo spent his entire life with coffee, a beloved
product that supported his family as well as many families
in the Aldea el Socorro, given that all of his employees
are from the local community.
Over the last decades, Arnoldo’s focus was on farming, with
the coffee being delivered to the local cooperative.
This long-dated model took an unexpected turn in 2017, with
the visit of a specialty coffee trader and a coffee
consultant. Their blind-tasting of many of the coffees in
the region pointed-out the potential of the Finca’s
cherries. The subsequent discussion gave the ignition light
that motivated Arnoldo and his wife Maria Eugenia to
build their own wet mill, with constructions initiated in
April 2017 and terminated in November of the same year.
While being a late starters in the field of Specialty
Coffee, Arnoldo took advantage of his deep knowledge in the
agricultural space, while Maria Eugenia leveraged her skills
as a talented cook to learn and refine best practices
in coffee fermentation and processing. Finca la Senda
focused its efforts on consistent cherry selection, long and
controlled fermentations as well as slow shade-drying.
The lot that we are proud to share with you this year
consists of carefully selected and processed typica
coffee picked from historical trees (over 80 years old) at
altitudes above 1’850 meters (ca. 6’100 ft.).
Apart from the common profiles of the region,
characterized by sweet flavors of stone fruits, citrus,
bright acidity and full body we have observed that
our washed process with long, partially
anaerobic, fermentations emphasize these
characteristics while significantly increasing complexity.
Whereas the region-typical flavors are still present, we
have found an increase in exotic flavors.
