Primavera Family, Guatemala, Washed

Coffee is believed to have been introduced to Guatemala by Jesuit missionaries, with accounts of it growing in the country by the mid 18th century, but it only became a serious export crop from the 1850s onward, when synthetic dyes collapsed demand for the cochineal that had dominated the economy. The shift was rapid: coffee rose from around 1% of Guatemala's export value in 1860 to 92% by 1880, accelerated by the 1871 Liberal Revolution under Justo Rufino Barrios whose government built infrastructure and passed land and labour laws that favoured coffee estates. Today Anacafé (founded in 1960) recognises eight distinct growing regions. Huehuetenango, on the Mexican border, is the highest and driest of the three non-volcanic regions. It sits within the Sierra de los Cuchumatanes, the highest non-volcanic mountain range in Central America, and hot, dry winds blowing up from Mexico's Tehuantepec plain protect the slopes from frost, allowing coffee to be grown up to around 2,000 m. The region is home to several Mayan communities, including the Mam, Q'anjob'al and Chuj, and its remoteness means virtually every producer processes their own coffee. Huehuetenango coffees are prized for intense, often wine-like acidity, fruit character and full body.

Primavera Family gives smaller harvests a place in a coffee built around shared quality. The lot combines coffee from around 10 to 15 producers in San Antonio Huista, Huehuetenango, whose individual volumes may be too small to market on their own. Together, their coffees form a regional profile centred on chocolate sweetness and bright fruit.