Guatemala, Tranqulino Y Filomeno

Farmers: Tranquilino & Filomeno Jerónemo

Region: Chanjón, Hueuetenango

Processing: Washed

Varietals: Bourbon, Typica, and Caturra

Flavour Notes: Creamy Body, Milk Chocolate, Citrus Acidity, Raisin, Complex depth.

About Tranquilino & Filomeno Jerónemo:

Filomeno and Tranquilino are both leaders of the ASDEFLOR Association located in the township of Chanjón, in the Todos Santos Cuchumatán municipality in the department of Huehuetenango- Filomeno is the current president and legal representative, and Tranquilino is one of the founders. ASDEFLOR is the Asociación de Desarrollo Flor del Café (Coffee Flower Development Association), and it is a small collective of just 30 members, all of whom belong to the Mam Mayan indigenous community. Mam is still the primary language used, though some members speak Spanish as well. Filomeno and Tranquilino were both fundamental to the association’s official foundation about ten years ago, and remain active members and leaders of the association today. 

The Association was legalized as ASDEFLOR in 2012 but the members had been working collaboratively long before. Previously they have only sold locally, bulking their parchment together and delivering to a co-op who paid market rate. Located quite far away, and often taking too long to deliver payment, many producers are choosing to hold their coffee back and look for other, better paying markets. When we first visited, the market rate was well below the cost of production. This year, a scarcity of pickers (because many farm workers chose to cross the border in search of better opportunities) made the harvest challenging for producers in the region, and increased wages to farm laborers meant increased costs of production for members of ASDEFLOR.

ASDEFLOR owns a communal wet-mill where many members process their coffee including Filomeno. After de-pulping the coffee into open ceramic tanks, fermentations are long and cold, between two and three days, and producers cover the tanks in thick plastic to ensure a homogenous and clean fermentation. From there, parchment is dried partially on raised beds and finished on patios at the wet-mill site. Filomeno’s parcel is about 27 cuerdas, which is relatively small, though a common size for indigenous farmers in the region. Tranquilino has his own wet mill with a cement fermentation tank. He leaves his coffee to ferment for 24 hours, and then washes the coffee and dries it on the patio on his farm. Tranquilino has 6 different parcels (3 were inherited, and 3 were purchased about 10 years ago).