Guatemala | Fernando Diaz, Finca Santa Ana + Finca El Retiro
Santa Rosa + Chimaltenango Departments
Our sister company, Bird Rock Coffee Roasters, has partnered with Fernando Diaz for more than a decade, and we're thrilled that Fernando's coffees are now a staple of our Direct Trade lineup.
Finca Santa Ana is a remote farm located in Santa Rosa Department, off the electrical grid, between the Tecuamburro and Pacaya volcanoes.
Green coffee buyer Jacob White and Director of Operations Brent Piepergerdes were able to visit the farm in 2019, 2020, and 2023 to observe Fernando's operations and learn about various experiments in the works.
Finca Santa Ana has had multiple Cup of Excellence appearances, including #4 in 2010 and #16 in 2015. The carefully supervised quality control at the farm is evident in the cup.
As part of our Direct Trade buying philosophy at PT's and Bird Rock, we always look for ways to invest in our farming partners in addition to paying a good price for the coffee. In 2015 Bird Rock shared an investment with Fernando to plant new seed stock at the farm with about 15 new varietals, including Mokka and Gesha. In a few years, these shrubs will give Finca Santa Ana more varietals to sell to specialty roasters and add another dimension to this already great farm.
Finca Santa Ana has set aside 5.4 hectares of its overall land as a forest reserve. From this area, rainwater is collected throughout the year as a reserve supply for harvest season. Finca Santa Ana composts the unused pulp from coffee cherries to be used as fertilizer on the trees in the coming year.
Fernando is experimenting with incorporating fresh fruit—like cantaloupe (pictured above) and pineapple—into the fermentation process to add new dimensions of fruit flavors and acidity to the coffee.
His latest experiment is a dry-depulped honey process coffee with 72-hour anaerobic fermentation (pictured below)—needless to say we're excited to taste this one!