Highland Fincas — Where Mayan Hands Meet Mountain Air

Some coffees comfort you. Others challenge you. Highland Fincas does both — effortlessly.

Grown between 1,500–2,000 metres in Huehuetenango — Guatemala's most celebrated and remote coffee region — Highland Fincas is the product of ancient land, indigenous hands, and an altitude so extreme that clouds literally touch the coffee trees. The name "Huehuetenango" comes from the Nahuatl word meaning "Place of the Ancients," and the coffee grown here carries that weight — generations of knowledge, patience, and craft embedded in every cherry.

What makes Huehuetenango extraordinary is its natural frost protection. Dry, hot winds blowing from Mexico's Tehuantepec plain sweep into the Cuchumatanes mountain range — Guatemala's highest non-volcanic peaks — and shield the coffee farms from frost even at extreme elevations above 1,800 metres. This means cherries can ripen slowly at altitudes where most coffee would die, developing the intense sweetness, complex acidity, and chocolate depth that define this origin.

Highland Fincas is naturally sun-dried — the traditional method used by Mam Maya smallholder farmers in this region for generations. Ripe cherries are handpicked and spread on patios to dry under the highland sun, concentrating sugars and deepening the chocolate and nutty character that makes this coffee irresistible.

The result? A cup that opens with real cocoa richness, settles into roasted hazelnut warmth, lifts with delicate florals, and finishes with a bright citrus whisper that keeps you reaching for one more sip.

This is Highland Fincas. Chocolate comfort with mountain soul.

Product Details

Flavor Profile

🍇Blackcurrant · 🍫 Chocolate · 🍊 Citrus Fruits · 🫐 Berries · 🌰 Nutty · 🥛 Creamy

Roast Guide

• Light— Reveals the delicate floral and citrus layers — best for pour over enthusiasts who want to taste the altitude. The chocolate is subtle here, more cacao nib than cocoa.
• Medium  ⭐ Roaster's Pick — The sweet spot — all four flavour layers arrive in perfect harmony. The chocolate leads, the nuts ground it, the florals lift it, and the citrus closes it clean. This is Highland Fincas at its most complete.
• Dark — The chocolate becomes intense and bittersweet. The nuttiness deepens into toasted almond. Florals recede. Body becomes heavy and bold. Ideal for espresso and milk-based drinks.

Brewing Guide

Storage Guide

• Transfer to an airtight container upon opening
• Store in a cool, dry place away from heat and direct sunlight
• Grind only what you need for each brew
• Peak flavour window: 4 - 6 days after roast date
• Best enjoyed within: 5 weeks of roast date

Farms Behind Your Cup

Highland Fincas is sourced from smallholder family fincas in the highlands of Huehuetenango — Guatemala's most remote and most revered coffee-growing region.

The word "finca" means farm in Spanish — but in Huehuetenango, it means something deeper. These are family plots, often less than 5 hectares, passed down through generations of Mam Maya indigenous farmers. The Mam people — one of Guatemala's oldest Mayan descendant communities — have farmed these highlands long before the Spanish arrived, using traditional agricultural practices that prioritise harmony with the land over industrial yield.

Coffee cultivation in Huehuetenango is not mechanised. Cherries are handpicked at peak ripeness — one by one — because the steep mountain terrain makes machinery impossible. This is not a limitation. It's an advantage. Hand-selection means only the ripest, sweetest cherries make it to the drying patios.

After picking, cherries are sun-dried on traditional patios — the same patios their grandfathers built — for 15–25 days. The natural process allows the fruit to ferment around the seed, transferring its sugars and intensifying the chocolate and nutty sweetness that defines Highland Fincas. 4

Our direct sourcing ensures fair pricing, full traceability, and the kind of lot-level quality that only comes from relationships built on respect — not transactions. When you buy Highland Fincas, you're not just buying coffee. You're supporting families who have tended these mountains for generations.

Why Crimson Summit

Huehuetenango has consistently produced Cup of Excellence winners and top-scoring specialty lots. The combination of extreme altitude, frost-protecting winds, volcanic-adjacent mineral-rich soil, indigenous farming traditions, and slow cherry maturation creates a flavour profile that is unmistakable — chocolate-forward, nutty, floral, with a bright citrus acidity that keeps the cup alive. It is widely regarded as Guatemala's finest coffee region, and one of Central America's most important specialty origins.

Your chocolate morning is waiting.

"The best mornings don't start with alarms. They start with the smell of chocolate rising from a cup that someone, somewhere on a mountain, picked by hand — just for this moment."

Highland Fincas — SCA 82 · Specialty Collection · Chocolate-Kissed