You might be wondering, while you enjoy your Pact Coffee, about its homeland, and those who grew it. Wonder no more! The latest addition to our coffee menu is one of Will’s (our Head of Coffee) favourites. Here’s why:
Super tasty coffee. There are plenty of juicy pineapple, orange and ripe tropical fruit flavours which match beautifully with the juicy mouthfeel and syrupy sweetness. With all of the intense sweetness, acidity, mouthfeel and flavour it should be a real punch around the face but in fact it’s elegant and smooth.
It’s grown in the coffee region of Antigua, which spreads across a valley surrounded by three volcanoes, Agua (Water), Acatenango, and Fuego (Fire). The Fuego volcano, which means fire in Spanish, is still under constant eruption, clouds of smoke are regularly visible above its peak. The coffee grown in Antigua is enriched by the volcanic soil which is full of nutrients and retains the water needed for the cherries to develop well.
This year (2015), tragedy struck: the Volcan de Fuego erupted a serious amount of ash impacting coffee across various regions, including Antigua. Fortunately winds blew the ash from the plants which prevented any long term damage to the trees, although volcanic soil is important to the high quality of coffee in the area, ash sitting on the leaves of the trees will kill it.
The main town in the region is called Antigua. It is a cultural center for tourism as it is the ancient capital of both the Mayans and the country of Guatemala. The increase in tourism has attracted a lot of locals and foreigners to live in the town. The demographic pressures create a demand for property in the region: Farmers are enticed with lucrative property value offers to sell their land, making it harder and harder to find coffee from there. Thankfully, there’s still great coffee to be had, and Filadelfia is one of the best!
The proud farmer of Filadelfia coffee, Francis Doulton, owns the highest farm in the region (a staggering 1650M above sea level). This and his constant quest for quality are at the heart of why his coffee stands above so many others. We’re proud to offer his coffee in our roster.
