Christmas Coffee 2.0 2025, Los Altares, Natural Pacamara, Guatemala

Flavour description: The Christmas Coffee has very sweet notes of milk chocolate and brown sugar, meet a thick and almost sticky mouthfeel with a bright acidity of lime. A flavour of dried pineapple lingers on the finish.
Color:  Yellow
Category: Comfortable
Producer: Guadalupe Alberto Reyes with family
Location: Palencia, Pie Del Cerro, east of Guatemala City, Guatemala
Farm: Los Altares
Varietal: Pacamara
Processing: Natural
Elevation: 1850 meters above sea level
Price Transparency: The FOB price paid for this coffee was $3.85/lb

We quickly ran out of our Christmas coffee this year and have to make some magic and go into the cupboard and see what coffee that possibly could be, upping the Vincente Paye. Los Altares has surprised us with coffee after coffee of strong and clear, easy drinkable, they all have been. Both Steve and I are amazed by how fruity and complex the Pacamara is from Los Altares, it is a touch sticky and big, and what better than Christmas would present it? A Pacamara is big and bold and can meet all the sweet flavours for the celebration. So to a very sweet holiday to you from Drop Coffee, here is the 2.0 Drop Coffee Christmas Coffee. 

Los Altares is a farm located in the small town of Palencia, east of Guatemala City. This farm is owned by Guadalupe Alberto “Beto” Reyes, who used to be the Mayor of Palencia and since 2012 has been growing coffee in the area. His work has helped put Palencia, a region not previously known for growing coffee, on the coffee map in Guatemala and leading to significantly development.

We have previously worked with a nearby farm called El Limon, and first got to visit what came to be Calahual and Los Altares long before it was bought and replanted by Alberto. Today it's grown into a family business with Beto’s wife and sons also working on the farm and running operations. Their care and devotion to each step of production has led to continued improvements on the wet-mill, which helps them separate and track different lots and harvests, and control the overall quality of production.

The Reyes family have a vision of building more exclusive and tasty varietals, a journey that we are involved in, helping to figure out which varietals and processes are best suited to the microclimate of this region. The plants here have taken several years to yield a commercial harvest, so we're very excited to share this crop!