Story

Nestled within the Sierra de los Cuchumatanes, the highest mountain range in Central America, the Coordinadora de Organizaciones de Desarrollo de Concepcion Huista (CODECH) is renowned for producing some of the finest Fair Trade and organic coffees not only in the department of Huehuetenango but throughout Guatemala. CODECH comprises four base cooperatives: Asociación de Desarrollo Integral Productivo Yamanonh (ADIPY), Asociación de Desarrollo Integral Tierra Hermosa Concepcionera (ADINTHEC), Asociación de Agricultores Tineco (ADAT), and Asociación Bitenam. These cooperatives represent the Popti, Mam, and Q’anjob’al branches of the Mayan family.

Since 2009, our esteemed partners at Atlas Coffee Importers have been collaborating closely with CODECH on quality control and traceability. They initiated a systematic classification of producers based on the elevation of their farms and organized an annual internal cupping competition to identify exceptional quality lots. Previously, all producers’ coffees were blended together, regardless of their quality. In 2019, we had the privilege of participating as judges in this competition and were astounded by the exceptional quality of the submissions. We are thrilled to now be working closely with some of the producers we discovered in that competition, who are cultivating outstanding coffees!