Origin: Casillas, Santa Rosa, Guatemala

Farm: La Joya (1.4 hectares)

Producer: Jorge Cano

Process: Washed with Anaerobic Fermentation

Varieties: Field Blend

Elevation: 1610 masl

Importer: Semilla with export partners Cafe Colis Resistencia

Roast: Medium

Notes: Berry Jam, Almond Brittle, Chocolate Milk, Butterscotch

Transparency: 

• We paid Semilla 6.9 USD per pound of exportable green coffee + shipping & storage fees
• Farmgate price was 2,600 Quetzal per Quintal of parchment (Regional Farmgate for 2025 was 1,800 Quetzal per Quintal of parchment)
• FOB price was $5.46/lb.

Jorge Cano, Finca La Joya.

Jorge Luis Cano Navas, is a long time coffee producer originally from Aldea Volcancito, in Casillas, Nueva Santa Rosa, south east of Guatemala City. When speaking with the Semilla team, he shared his story about joining the fight against the Canadian owned silver mine operating illegally and poisoning the local land.

As a member of the indigenous Xinca community, Jorge joined the Resistance in 2025 to defend their rights and preserve their rightful land. This was the very year where rumours spread about severe contamination caused by the silver mine, which discharged polluted water near his village and their crops.

He shared his experience in being part of organizing a peaceful resistance in Casillas, monitoring fuel trucks to prevent the mining company from covertly continuing its operations. This type of resistance had to come directly from the people, as the government in Guatemala showed no support to these communities at the time.

Fortunately, through other organizations, the Volcancito group received a roaster and grinder, enabling them to roast and sell their own coffee to the local market under the name " Café Xinca ". These kind of opportunities are huge for a community to support itself.

At 26 years old, Jorge has spent his entire life working in coffee. He inherited his farm, which was replanted 13 years focusing on maximizing production to sell cherry to local intermediaries (not good). In 2024 Jorge made a shift in his production and chose to focus on processing his own parchment, and sold coffee under his own name for the first time, sending a small lot of 20 quintals (roughly 4400lb) of parchment coffee. Selling to Semilla through El Volcancito was a new experience for him that brought way better profit margins than selling to local intermediaries!

In fact, for our 5 bag lot of Jorge's coffee, he was paid 2,600 Quetzals per parchment of coffee, compared to the local regional farmgate price of 1,800 Quetzals per quintal of parchment. A meaningful increase in price, recognizing the importance of the work being done. After the purchase of the parchment, Semilla takes care of all transport to and from the mill, milling costs, and shipping costs to warehouse, where their FOB total was $5.46 USD per LB exportable green coffee. 

Jorge expressed his gratitude to his fellow resistance members, and the buyers in Canada(us, you!) as they represent and support the Xinca people.

We're so incredibly impressed with this coffee! We're suckers for a clean, chocolatey Guatemalan coffee. Jorge takes exceptional care for someone who is new to processing down to parchment. After harvesting only ripe fruit, the cherries undergo a 12-hour anaerobic fermentation before being de-pulped. That is then followed by a second 36 hour dry anaerobic fermentation in sealed plastic bags. It is then fully washed before being put on raised beds to dry for approximately 13 days.

In the cup we're getting big sweet chocolate milk, jammy berry notes, rich roasted almond and caramels on the finish.

Brewing Recommendations:

We're loving it on filter, and it will be a banger on espresso, especially if you like chocolate bar tasting flat whites!  

Pour-over: 1:16-17 ratio, we're really enjoying 16g in, 250ml water @ 93c-95c, brewer in the kalita wave, aiming for a ~3ish minute extraction.

Espresso: 18.3g-18.7g in, 38g-40g out, in 26-30 seconds.

Semilla, El Volcancito, & Cafe Colis Resistencia.

If you're interested in learning more about the resistance work happening in Guatemala against the Canadian owned Silver Mine operating illegaling on their indigenous lands, I'd suggest heading over to Semilla's Website and reading through their Guatemala page. They also post a wealth of information and stories on their instagram.