About Finca Las Brisas y Anexos

For three generations, Finca Las Brisas y Anexos has been the Franco’s family business. The farm began by cultivating sugar cane, until Gabriela’s grandparents decided to switch to growing coffee at the end of the 1960’s. The family’s farm in the mountains was one of the first to produce coffee in their region. Daniel Franco, Gabriela's grandfather and founder of the business, called his estate Las Brisas. Each of his children worked in the coffee industry but when Daniel died they unified the business and called it Finca Las Brisas y Anexos, to include all the areas of land that the family owned.

Now Finca Las Brisas y Anexos covers different areas between Fraijanes and Santa Rosa. Located in the mountains near Guatemala City, in Santa Cruz Naranjo, Santa Rosa, Finca Las Brisas y Anexos is between 1250 and 1620 meters above sea level, which gives the farm a competitive advantage. The different heights and microclimates of the farm create the conditions needed to produce a variety of high quality coffees with different flavors and characteristics.

Gabriela started working with the family business two years ago, however, it was not until she started cupping and experienced the excellent quality of her own coffee, that coffee became her passion. The cuppings gave her the opportunity to understand and see how the characteristics of her coffee, such as acidity, flavor, sweetness, and different processes affect her coffee’s behavior. Wanting to support her family, Gabriela decided to gain experience outside the family business before getting involved. Now she can contribute her expertise on farm administration, the implementation of new quality processes to the farm, and sharing about the quality of her family’s coffee. Gabriela is also promoting inclusion of the third-generation of their family to share new ideas with the business only causing the farm to thrive even more.

Gabriela and her family recently started participating in regional competitions. In just their second year of competing, their coffee won fifth-place with 86.75 points in the washed process category. Also, part of their work in the community is to process coffee for a cooperative. With the cooperative, they have gained certification from the Rainforest Alliance, Nespresso, Starbucks and Fair Trade. Moreover, the farm now seeks to be recognized as a family business that is dedicated to the community and the quality of specialty coffee. By doing this, the family wants to develop new job opportunities, mainly in the surrounding areas, to help their community, while experimenting with new processes to produce the highest quality coffee for their consumers.