FINCA LA SENDA

The inception of Finca la Senda, now run by Arnoldo Pérez Melendez and his wife Maria Eugenia Escobar, dates back to the forties, when Arnoldo’s father pioneered the plantation of coffee in the surroundings of the Aldea el Socorro in Acatenango. 

The Finca extends from the borders of the village up to mount Balàm, the hill of the Jaguar in native language. Coffee is planted at an altitude between 1’550 and 1’970 meters, while nature is taking its own course further up the mountainside, respecting the unique biosphere. Coffee is harvested on an extension of broadly 27 hectares.

Arnoldo spent his entire live with coffee, a beloved product that supported his family as well as many families in Aldea el Socorro, given that all of his employees are villagers. 

Over the last decades, Arnoldo’s focus was on farming, with the coffee being delivered to the local cooperative. This long-dated model took an unexpected turn in 2017, with the visit of a specialty coffee trader and a coffee consultant. Their blind-tasting of many of the coffees in the region pointed-out the potential of the Finca’s cherries. The subsequent discussion gave the ignition light that motivated Arnoldo and his wife Maria Eugenia to build their own wet mill, with constructions initiated in April 2017 and terminated in November of the same year.

While being a late starters in the field of Specialty Coffee, Arnoldo took advantage of his deep knowledge in the agricultural space, while Maria Eugenia leveraged her skills as a talented cook to learn and refine best practices in coffee fermentation and processing. Finca la Senda focused its efforts on consistent cherry selection, long and controlled fermentations as well as slow shadow-drying.