Guatemala Las Moritas

Gooseberry. Custard. Black Tea.

Ships within 1 week after roast date
100% specialty arabica coffee beans only
Manhattan's coffee beans are at their peak 2 to 3 weeks after roasting

About this coffee: 

Don Higinio and his wife Doña Aura bought their first small plot of land in 1988, naming it San José Las Moritas. Before the purchase of Las Moritas, tomatoes, beans, potatoes and corn were grown on the land. Las Moritas would be the first of many farms Don Higinio would acquire over the years.

The first coffee seeds planted here were given to Don Higinio from his father. They began with less than a hectare of land, planting bourbon varietals and small trees. Every year they purchased more land for Las Moritas. Now San Jose Las Moritas is made up of many different parcels of land such as Cerro de Oro, El Potrero, La Camioneta and La Posa. Real Café Los Planes and
Moritas Vista Real are also separate farms that fall under the Las Moritas coffee category. These parcels of land that make up Las Moritas have red and yellow Bourbon, Pache, Pacamara, Castillo, Tipica, Catuaí, Caturra, and a dozen other rare varietals. The shade trees are mainly ingas, pine trees, avocado trees, and natural forest. Las Moritas also cultivates corn, beans, tomatoes, and peaches to be sold in local markets.

Spanning between an altitude of 1,200-1,800 meters with various types of terrain, soil, and climates, this land makes for diverse growing conditions. In total, Las Moritas has 70 Hectares of land with 56 hectares devoted to coffee. The farm consists of planes, hills, mountains, and even cliffs that the workers somehow manage to harvest. The soil is different in each area, influenced by the crop that was cultivated there before. Las Moritas delivered around 4,860,000 pounds of cherry to Beneficio La Esperanza in
last year’s harvest.

The yearly harvest begins on the first day of November in the lowest areas of land and finishes in April in the highest parts of Las Moritas. Las Moritas is a mixture of old varieties growing in a chaotic layout as well as newly planted varieties in neatly planned rows. Plants of all ages can be found throughout Las Moritas. Renovations are based on selective pruning as well as replanting new coffee in place of dead plants. Due to the dry climate, an irrigation system has been put in place consisting of reservoirs that pour
water into tubes that run between the lots of coffee using gravity to spread water to the plants.