Decaf, Guatemala, Finca Medina

Finca Medina, established in 1842, is a 100-acre coffee farm and processing facility (beneficio) located in the foothills of Volcán de Agua, just a few short miles south of the historic city of Antigua. Agua, known sometimes by its indigenous Kaqchikel name Hunapú (“place of flowers”) is the extinct little sibling to the still-active stratovolcano Fuego to the west.  While Medina does indeed produce its own coffee for export, with 30 full time and 200+ seasonal workers, one of its primary workstreams is as a locus for smallholder farmers of the region to provide processing support, access to international buyers and export services, and education and social benefit programs. “This support includes training, technical visits to the producers’ plots, educational tours, donations of coffee varieties resistant to coffee rust, development of foliar fertilizers for rust prevention, donations of molasses, support with soil analysis, and financing if desired,” Finca Medina wrote in a recent co