Fredy Guarchaj and AprocafeThis year's Holiday Lights is another exceptional Microlot from the Aprocafe Cooperative based near Lake Atitlan, Guatemala. Pictured is Pedro Isaias Gonzalez, Director of Aprocafe. In 2021, Zeke’s started to engage in direct relationships abroad with coffee producers and cooperatives. Many of our blends contain beans sourced from these direct relationships, but the best parts about this includes participation in the coffee process, transparency in the supply chain, and the ability to invest in projects with the producers and cooperatives.
Fredy and his family (pictured) are the largest contributor to Aprocafe producing roughly over one container of specialty coffee (42,000 lbs). Fredy grows Bourbon trees that he inherited from his father, but started to shift towards Red and Green Pache. He says that Pache has a natural resistance to leaf rust helping maintain a high yielding organic coffee. The variety produces in bunches with consistent ripeness and the trees are often lower to the ground compared to Bourbon making it much more efficient to pick cherries and preserve the coffee tree. Fredy owns and operates his own wet mill, keeping a careful eye on the processing, and separates out his best lots for drying on raised beds to ensure a great tasting Microlot! |
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