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Finca Santa Ines, Antigua Guatemala

This will be the second year we offer lots from the Santa Inés coffee farm, so it’s time for a short video and photo introduction to this traditional Antigua farm.

Finca Santa Ines has been part of the Minondo family for 4 generations. Currently Raul Minondo lives on the farm, overseeing operations with the farm manager Erick Jimenez. Sr. Minondo’s daughter Isa Minondo has now entered the family business to help market the coffee. Finca Santa Inés was originally part of Finca El Potrero and is located in the Panchoy Valley. Today it is known as Valle de Antigua. 

The farm is a very traditional Antigua coffee finca, on the valley floor at 1500 meters. They have planted mostly Catuai variety coffee, along with old Bourbon, Bourboncito, Caturra, Marellesa, Tekisik and others. I feel like the Caturra coffee cups really well, as well as the Bourbon types. They aren’t flashy coffees, just very solid nice cups you want to drink!

Finca Santa Ines Coffee Farm Tour – Guatemala

Santa Ines Coffee Photos

The entrance to Santa Ines farm is inauspcious but there is more than coffee to this place…
The farm is 62 Manzanas of land, in the Valle de Antigua at 1500 meters.
It is mostly planted in Catuai variety, which has been widely used in Antigua since the 1990s.
At this time of year, the harvest was finished so they were pruning back the trees to encourage new growth.
I visited a small plot of Gesha variety coffee, shown here, but it is just a small fraction of the total production.
The farm has been in the Minondo family since it was split from a much larger farm, El Portero.
In a detail from the previous 1953 arial photo, the Nueva and Vieja lands of Santa Ines.
If you are from the area, or have visited lately, this .aerial photo would startle you. The few houses and amount of agricultural land dates it to the 60s or early 70s.
The processing at the mill is traditional in terms of sun-drying coffee on the patios.
They have updated the coffee pulping equipment to include a demucilage machine – but in fact they still do a long fermentation after for up to 48 hours.
The Criba at the mill, so separate unripe cherry. Santa Ines coffee mill
Green, unripe coffee fruit still has a strong market for instant coffee. In fact the commercial value this year is quite high! Much of it is being exported to Mexico.
There is more to Santa Ines than coffee. There are also a community of peacocks on the farm! They aren’t supposed to roam free, but they have their own ideas…
Peacocks at the Santa Ines coffee mill, Ciudad Vieja, Guatemala
Peacock tail feather detail at Santa Ines coffee mill
A pride of the farm is Raul Minondo’s Español horses.
This breed is know for their stature and long manes, which are braided when they are shown.
Santa Ines coffee farm, Antigua Guatemala

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    • 2 Responses

    1. I enjoy seeing a farm and aspects of the processing, as well as hearing about the growers.
      Beautiful peacocks and horses.
      Gorgeous photos.
      Thanks!

      Reply

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