If I Had the Hand of God

Region: Canoguitas, Huehuetenango
Producer: Petronila Morales Mendez & Jaime Ramirez Luis
Variety: Bourbon & Caturra
Altitude: ~1980 masl
Process: fully washed – dried on concrete patios

Petronila Morales Mendez and her husband, Jaime Ramirez Luis, are coffee producers in the township of Canoguitas, in San Pedro Necta, Huehuetenango. They farm three parcels at roughly 1,980 meters above sea level: one they bought together about 30 years ago, and two inherited from their families.

Coffee runs deep in both of their histories. Petronila worked alongside her father on coffee farms as a child, and Jaime began working on farms at 15, following his father, who was a farm laborer. Their parents worked the harvest seasons on coffee farms and grew corn and beans the rest of the year.

Petronila and Jaime are part of a loosely organized group of producers around Canoguitas who are focusing more on specialty coffee. As they've learned more about the specialty market, they've put greater emphasis on picking only ripe cherries.

The work is shared across the family. Jaime and one of their children oversee the field laborers and handle coffee drying. Petronila manages the pickers and picks alongside them. Their son helps with the more physically demanding tasks. The couple fertilizes twice a year and reuses coffee pulp, particularly in their plant nursery. Labor shortages and the cost of fertilizer remain their biggest ongoing challenges.