Felipe and Marta Martinez purchased the first piece of land over 50 years ago, before it could even be accessed by a dirt road with a four-wheel drive. It was a full day away from the city of Huehuetenango, including a bus ride to where the road ended and a half-day hike. They slept on the dirt floor unless it was time for coffee to be taken down the mountain. When the time came, Felipe hired help to hike the coffee bags to the closest road and was obligated to sleep there each night until someone came by with a vehicle to take him and the coffee to town. It was not easy for them to raise a family with seven kids on $25 per month; Delmi, the oldest sister, vividly remembers carrying tables and chairs and dishes on their head as they hiked for hours through trails to get to their property in their Sunday shoes—their only shoes.

Forward to today where the third generation of the Martinez family, headed by Edwin (Eddie) and his wife Nina are carrying on the rich tradition of sacrifice and quality work. Finca Vista Hermosa has received multiple awards for coffee quality in the past decade, and it has been awarded the Exceptional Cup award in Guatemala several times, and they placed eighth in the prestigious Cup Of Excellence in 2007. FVH coffee has also been chosen by Anacafe as the best of the best representative of the perfect flavor profile of the Huehuetenango region three years in a row.

Vista Hermosa is an nearly self sufficient farm operating in a highly sustainable manner and providing a benefit to the local environment and economy. Above and below the farm are virgin rain forest belts that are dense jungle and filled with an abundance of plants and animals. All coffee is planted under native species shade trees which not only provide ideal growing conditions, stop erosion and provide valuable nutrients to the soil but also provide fire wood and building materials for the local families that rely on Vista Hermosa for their livelihood. Although not certified organic, Vista Hermosa pursues environmentally sustainable policies: they raise their own sheep to provide both natural fertilizer and food; they compost and recycle all of their coffee and water waste from processing and harvesting; they even raise chickens to provide pest control and a natural nitrite fertilizer – no chemical pesticides are used on the farm. The resulting effect is a much healthier ecosystem with vibrant flora and fauna.

The most important asset of FVH is the people. The Martinez family has always taken great strides to take good care of their people both in the farm and the surrounding community. FVH has had a Mayan farm manager for the last thirty years. This is remarkable in a country where the indigenous peoples are treated with disdain and sometimes hatred. The Martinez family has invested countless amounts time and money into the surrounding community. They have built schools, water systems and other community benefits over the last thirty years. In 2007 Barefoot Coffee and a few other roasters partnered to help build a medical clinic and sleeping quarters on the farm. This provided a much needed space for local doctors and dentists to provide medical checkups, services and medical care with privacy and cleanliness. FVH is an integral part of the local community at large and has led many advancements in improving the quality of life of the people of Agua Dulce. In 2008 Barefoot is contributing to a fund to help pay for medical supplies to improve medical care in the medical facility.

Finca Vista Hermosa takes exceptional care in the cultivation and processing of their coffee to ensure the highest quality beans make it to market. Diego, the farm manager, enforces a quality focused mindset that ensures that only the ripest coffee cherries are picked by hand without damaging the trees or the partially ripe cherries. Each lot goes through multiple hand pickings as the harvest season progresses so that only the reddest, ripest cherries are harvested. Then the cherries are examined at the receiving station before going into the separation tank. In these tanks, under and over ripe cherries float above the perfectly ripe cherries that sink to the bottom of the tanks. Those ripe cherries are then sorted out to the depulper, the only piece of the processing that uses an electrical engine; all other parts of the harvesting process are painstakingly done by hand under the watchful eyes of the master coffee managers. Each daily harvest lot is fermented separately to ensure quality and traceability.

Afterwards, the clean parchment coffee is sent to the washing channels where the coffees are continuously washed and density sorted with the highest density and highest quality coffees remaining at the top of the washing ladder. After the careful washing and sorting process the coffee is laid out on the coffee drying patios where they are turned and dried. They are marked by microlot and day harvest the entire way through the processing. This level of quality control and hands-on care results in an amazingly clean and consistent coffee with exceptional flavor characteristics. It is not easy, requiring sacrifice and commitment that costs far more in terms of money and time than most coffee farms are willing to dedicate. But the results speak for themselves in the awards they have received and the flavor in the cup of each Vista Hermosa micro-lot.

In 2007, Barefoot spent 10 days with the Martinez family working to separate the microlots all the way to market to improve quality. Barefoot Coffee was the first roaster to separate the lots of Finca Vista Hermosa and offer them as distinct coffees from the same farm. Having originally featured five microlots, for 2008 Barefoot has chosen three microlots from our blind cupping: The Vista Hermosa Reserve, the Edlyna microlot and the Peabery reserve. Having been chosen once again by Anacafe as the best of the best representative Huehuetenango, as well as winning eighth place in the Cup of Excellence in 2007 (they entered El Eden in 2008 and it narrowly missed the cut into the final 44 coffees), Barefoot is proud of our five year partnership with this remarkable farm.

Barefoot travels to visit the Finca on a regular basis and two generations of Martinez family have come to visit us as well. We buy the coffee directly from Finca Vista Hermosa and pay a premium priced based on quality. And in 2008 Barefoot is again paying a premium to FVH to help pay for medical supplies for the local doctors that provide the medical and dental care. Vista Hermosa receives a premium prices that is almost double the Fair Trade floor price, and since they export and import the coffee the entire price goes directly to them with no expoerters taking a cut.

Coffee from Finca Vista Hermosa has consistently been our favorite coffees and our best selling beans. Barefoot is overjoyed to be a part of this great coffee family. Join us in supporting great coffee and great people.

MICROCLIMATE

Altitude: 1400 -1900 masl (4200-6400 feet)
Average temperature: C: 22 (F: 75)
Annual rainfall: mm: 1700
Type of soil and predominant element: Loamy-Clay
Relative humidity: %: 60
Type of shade trees: Inga, Gravilea, native Pine, Cypress and fruit
Beginning of harvest: January
End of harvest: May

Farm profile:

Farm: Vista Hermosa
Farmer: Martinez Pineda, Edwin
City: San Pedro Necta
Region: Huehuetenango
Country: Guatemala
Farm Size: 36.36 Hectares
Coffee growing area: 35.00 Hectares
Altitude: 1600 masl
Certification: None
Importer: Finca Vista Hermosa

more info: Vista Hermosa