Guatemala Dry Process Finca Rosma

Finca Rosma is a small farm near Michicoy town in San Pedro Necta area of Huehuetenango, and is owned by the Morales family, managed by the son Fredy. The name is in honor of his grandmother, Rosemarie. It's located on a high ridge where you drive in to the farm at nearly 1900 meters above sea level, then descend down to the mill at around 1600 meters. When Alejandro Rosales bought the farm in 1963, the only way to get there was by foot, or horseback. It's not that easy of a trek by road, either. The farm is quite steep, typical for the high ridges of the Sierra Los Cuchumatanes mountains. These days Alejandro's son, Fredy, plays an outsized role at Finca Rosma, and has been our connection to the farm since we started buying it more than a decade ago (it's worth noting that Fredy is also the linchpin in our Proyecto Xinabajul buying project in Huehue). The plantings to be quite a jumble of cultivars, also typical for the region. There are certainly a lot of old Bourbon and Typica (Arabigo) trees, and some Caturra and Catuai as well. There are also red and yellow varieties. They mainly produce wet-process coffee at Rosma using traditional fermentation methods, but they also produce smaller amounts of dry process coffees too in small batches (aka "naturals"). Whereas the wet process method involves removing the cherry before drying, the dry process method keeps the whole coffee fruit intact. It takes a lot longer to dry naturals, upwards of 3 weeks at Rosma, and the cherries ferment durig this time. While not always true, the dry process method is known for producing fruitier flavors, and certainly the case with this lot of Rosma. We found it to be quite a bodied coffee too, giving the wilder fruit and berry flavors some staying power in the finish.