Santos Perez Ramirez is a long term member of Flor del Cafe Cooperative, formerly known as ASDEFLOR (Asociación de Desarrollo Flor del Café, or, in English, Coffee Flower Development Association). The coop has just 30 members, all of whom belong to the Mam Mayan indigenous community around Chanjon, and has been – since 2017 – a source of many excellent Small Batch microlots, as well as providing year long consistency to our espresso blends.

Santos does not use herbicides on the farm, and instead keeps groundcover plants (and non invasive weeds) to maintain soil moisture and supply valuable nutrients. The coffee trees are carefully pruned after the harvest to allow sun penetration and improve airflow (too many branches and leaves can invite fungus including roya). Santos’ small parcels of Caturra, Pache, Bourbon and Catuaí sit between 1600 and 1800 masl.

Coffee is depulped the same day that it’s picked, and, because the processing area behind Santos’s house is often cold, it is often fermented for up to 3 days, covered under a thick plastic sheet. From there, aided by his son, Santos washes the coffee once and patio dries over 5 to 6 days.