Guatemala Huehuetenango - Mario Cano Lote Especial

Cup notes available upon arrival

Bag Weight	69 KG BAG
Harvest Season	2025/26
Status	ETA Aug 2026
Lot Number	P615670-1

Alameda, CA: 10 Bag(s)

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About This Coffee

For Mario Cano , coffee has been a constant for five decades. He began developing Los Pinos 45 years ago, planting his first coffee trees on land that was once used as pasture. What started with a small part of the property gradually grew into a 5.9-hectare farm, where Mario now cultivates Bourbon, Pache Verde, Sarchimor and Catuai. Named after the pine trees that once stood on the property, Los Pinos has become a family endeavor. Mario works alongside his son and seasonal workers, while two of his three children are now involved in coffee production. He describes himself as a grateful and curious producer who enjoys every stage of the process—from caring for the plants to preparing the coffee as parchment. After decades in coffee, he continues to learn, adapting his experience to produce coffees with distinctive characteristics and to better understand the value of his harvest.

Los Pinos is located in Cantón Buenos Aires, within the municipality of Unión Cantinil, Huehuetenango, a mountainous coffee-growing area where agriculture is deeply connected to community life. The landscape is largely shaped by coffee farms, with elevations, mountain terrain and favorable growing conditions creating an environment well suited to Arabica production. Unión Cantinil is a community of farming families whose livelihoods are closely tied to coffee. Here, knowledge is built through experience and passed between generations, much like Mario's own farm. For Los Pinos, that continuity is part of what makes the coffee special: a landscape shaped by coffee, a producer with 50 years of experience, and a new generation continuing the work.

Country of Origin	Guatemala
Region	Unión Cantinil, Huehuetenango
Producer Type	Single Estate
Farm Name	Los Pinos
Processing	Washed
Processing Description	14-15hr fermentation, sun-dried on shaded patios
Growing Altitude	1450m

Harvest Season	2025/26
Bag Weight	69 KG BAG
Bag Type	Grain Pro / Ecotact
Plant Species	Arabica
Variety	Bourbon, Catuai, Pache, Sarchimor

History of Coffee in Guatemala

Although coffee was brought over from the Caribbean in the mid-18th century by Jesuit priests, it was used primarily as an ornamental plant and garden crop for 100 years in Guatemala. Coffee wasn’t widely traded, however, until commercial production began in the 1850s. The volcanic soil and various micro-climates proved ideal for growing coffee in Guatemala. Coffee, within a generation, became the country’s most important crop. In 1860, Guatemala exported 140,000 pounds of coffee, and just 25 years later, the country was exporting over 40 million pounds. Large numbers of coffee farmers were German immigrants responsible for many inventions and innovations related to coffee milling. Most of Guatemala’s coffee was exported to Germany until the First World War, when exports shifted to the United States.

Growing Coffee in Guatemala

Coffee farming practices are similar to other countries in the region, but Guatemala has an abundance of water, volcanic soil, and very distinct micro-climates compared to its neighbors. Although late to coffee, Guatemala recognized and responded to the needs of the emerging specialty coffee sector earlier than most coffee-producing regions. Anacafé, the coffee producers association in Guatemala, identifies seven growing regions: Fraijanes, the plateau south of Guatemala City; Coban, a rainforest region in the center of the country; Huehuetenango, highlands near the border with Mexico; Atitlan, primarily the volcanic mountains on the Pacific side of Lake Atitlan; San Marcos, between Huehuetenango and the Pacific Ocean; Oriente, the driest of the growing regions located near the eastern border with Honduras; and the most famous of all, Antigua, nestled among the volcanoes an hour’s drive southwest of Guatemala City.