Our Trip To Guatemala:

Here are some pictures from our trip to visit Edwin Sr. and Edwin Jr. at their plantation in Huehuetenago, Guatemala: in March of '06.

Edwin Jr. is responsible for the growing of the coffee, the export to America (he has a place in Washington) and finally the distribution. He has also taken up consulting work for other farms. Without Edwin we would not have our wonderful Guatemalan Finca Vista Hermosa.

Edwin is one of the most knowledgeable growers that we have met. He strives for excellence and is willing to donate his time to help others. He helps farms increase their profit by growing exceptional coffee. This money than goes to paying workers higher wages and providing basic necessities such as health care and education.

While we were visiting the farm in Guatemala we saw them nearing completion of a new clinic where they would bring in doctors to provide free healthcare to the workers. They also helped maintain and build a school where the government could only fund half of the project. In return, Edwin has some of the most dedicated workers in the region.

Here at Burman Coffee we do all we can to help Edwin and his projects. We hope to continue helping Edwin grow, and strive to find more people and coffees throughout the world that carry similar characteristics and drive as Edwin and his coffees.

An overview of Finca Vista Hermosa. It is around 14 miles to the nearest town.	Edwin Jr. on the left, Edwin Sr. on the right.
Here is the coffee nursery. Vista Hermosa is an ever expanding plantation that is constantly adding more plants to the mix. It will easily take 2-4 years before these plants will produce coffee cherries.	A coffee plant loaded with bright red cherries. The perfect time to harvest! They don't have much fruit on them but they sure are tasty.
Here we are, a group of gringos mixing in with the locals. These are the coffee pickers, although they live the rough life they are some of the happiest people I have seen.	After the coffee has been picked it is runs though a floater and ends up being pumped into this mill (looks like a gigantic cheese grater). This machine takes the beans out of the cherry so it can be fermented, then dried.
Here are the concrete drying patios in Guatemala. This is one of four that were at the farm. This process needs constant attention for the coffees need to continue drying and if moisture finds its way in, the coffee will be ruined.	This is one of the major mills in Guatemala, the outer shell of the coffee bean is taken off and any beans not meeting quality standards are removed.
One of the coolest machines we saw was an automatic sorting machine. It uses lasers to detect bean color and size and automatically removes any beans that do not fit the specific parameters.	The final step after sorting is filling the coffee bags. Did you ever know coffee goes through so much before it is even roasted?
Ana Cafe is the governing force for regulating Guatemalan Coffee. They gave us the red carpet treatment and the full tour. We are pictured here with the Edwins and the VP of Ana Cafe.