Guatemala Xela

This coffee is sourced far and wide across the Quetzaltenango department in western Guatemala. We call it Xela (sheh-lah), which is the Kʼicheʼ – or Maya – word for this area.

La Federación Comercializadora de Café Especial de Guatemala (FECCEG), is a second-level cooperative comprised of 12 small producer cooperatives in the Western Highlands of Guatemala. This region includes parts of Chimaltenango, Huehuetenango, Quiché, Sololá, San Marcos and Quetzaltenango.

In total, FECCEG represents 1,943 small farmers, of whom 529 are women. Seventy percent of members depend on agricultural production for their livelihoods.

FECCEG focuses on strengthening producer networks, to increase its members’ bargaining power in the global market and to achieve fair prices for their agricultural products. They also focus on organic, value-added agriculture and projects that promote gender equality and food security.

The process of preparing cherries for export begins on the farms, where farmers conduct the wet mill processes of sorting, pulping and drying the cherries. The beans are then transferred to the main FECCEG warehouse where dry milling and storage in parchment takes place. The coffee is then exported by the exporting arm of FECCEG, Exportadora de Café Especial de Guatemala.