Guatemala El Panal

This is a fun one from Guatemala - the second year we're buying this!

El Panal is a lot of from Finca El Apiario that is of Caturra and Bourbon varieties grown by Jorge Mendez in the San Pedro Necta region of Guatemala. San Pedro Necta is found in the Huehuetenango department of western Guatemala. It's a delicious washed coffee grown at 1600MASL of Bourbon and Caturra varieties.

Jorge started as a picker in farms in the San Pedro Necta. He saved money with his wife until he had Q500 to buy a small piece of land down by the PanAmerican highway. About 14 km away, and closer to civilization, Jorge learned the value of coffee; how to buy and sell, quality metrics, and how to grow quality coffees. He sold his property and moved back up the mountain to be back in Agua Dulce. Here he bought two small parcels and worked the land. Someone told him that having two farms apart was a waste of time so he bought the first lot where El Apiario currently is. At first coffee wouldn't grow at this elevation and he grew corn while trying many different kinds of coffees. Finally, he discovered how to grow coffees at this altitude and continued to work on quality.

We get delicious notes of hazelnuts, warming spices, currant and apricot in the cup.