Country; Guatemala
Region: Lake Atitlan
Farm: Finca Santo Tomas
Variety: Caturra
Proc. Method: Fully Washed
Altitude: 950 meters
Harvest: Sept - Mar
 
Finca Santo Tomas Perdido is a family farm that has been producing specialty coffee, honey, and renewable energy since 1996. This farm is located in the beautiful area of San Lucas Toliman near Lake Atitlan in Guatemala. Owned by the Torrebiarte family, the farm is currently run by the third generation, Javier Torrebiarte. Javier studied in the US and London and received degrees in agricultural business and technology before he returned home to Guatemala to manage the family farm. He now manages the daily operations of the farm, planning and supervising all field tasks, as well as picking and processing in the wet mill during the harvest season. Speaking of harvest, Finca Santo Tomas Perdido employs 125 full-time employees and up to 500 pickers during harvest! Every year, the Torrebiarte family strives to improve their processing methods. One way they’ve done this is through implementing new sorting processes in the wet mill. Over the last three years, they added screens in different stages of our wet milling processes so that the top-quality parchment can improve in quality even more. To utilize their natural resources in the best possible way, while reducing our carbon footprint, they produce hydroelectric power. The sloping course of the farm’s most important river, Rio Santa Teresa, allows them to produce up to two megawatts of electricity per hour! This allows them to be self-sufficient and capable of selling the surplus production to the national system.