Guatemala El Colmenar

Producer: Juan Rodríguez Cano
Farm: El Colmenar, 1.2 hectares
Region: El Volcancito, Santa Rosa, Guatemala
Variety: Field Blend
Process: Washed — 24-hour anaerobic fermentation in sealed bags, dry-pulped, then 36 hours of dry fermentation before drying on African beds for an average of 13 days
Altitude: 1,700 masl
Tasting Notes: Rich and complex, with olive oil cake, dried fruit, and almond on the nose. A bright, juicy cup loaded with red fruit and a slightly tropical edge, backed by great body and a long, sweet finish.
Importer: Semilla

About the Producer

Juan Rodríguez Cano began growing coffee at the age of 11, after the death of his mother. Raised by one of his brothers, he inherited the land she left him, along with 200 coffee seedlings his brother gave him and the know-how to work them. He's been farming coffee ever since.

In 2013, Juan joined the local "Resistencia" movement opposing a mining company that was harming the region's land and water. He remains active in that fight today, and serves as president of Guardianes de la Naturaleza (Guardians of Nature), a community group that runs a collective forest nursery to help reforest the area.

It was through this same community — and conversations with growers in nearby Mataquescuintla about the export process — that Juan found his way into specialty coffee. The approach he follows uses minimal water: pulp and "honey water" left over from washing cherries are turned into organic fertilizer instead of waste. That ecological method, and the chance to be paid fairly for it, is what pushed him to start selling to international buyers. With support from partner organizations, his community has since brought in a lower-water coffee depulper and built drying tunnels to produce export-quality lots like this one.

This lot paid Juan roughly 50% above the 2025 regional farmgate average for Santa Rosa — a concrete return for the work that goes into it.

About Semilla & Cafe Colis Resistencia

Semilla's Guatemala partnership works with the producer group organized around Mataquescuintla, known as Cafe Colis Resistencia, a name shaped by what its growers have lived through. The community sits beside the Escobal silver mine, a large-scale operation built without the consent of the local Indigenous Xinca people. Their sustained legal and political resistance to the mine has become a landmark case for Indigenous rights in Guatemala. Juan's own work, both his years opposing the mine and his role leading a community forest nursery, is part of that same story.

This summary is based on information provided by our partner and green bean supplier, Semilla.