About Finca La Asunción

Mélany is a young coffee producer, 18-years old, living in the department of Chimaltenango in Guatemala. A fourth-generation coffee-grower, Mélany’s family raised her with the love of coffee that distinguishes La Asunción’s coffee from others. When she was a child helping the family cut the coffee, Mélany remembers once cutting the unripe green coffee alongside the ripe coffee to finish more quickly. Her grandfather took her aside and told her to always treat the coffee with patience and love, even when the work is difficult, and today Mélany continues with this goal for the coffee and the farm. Experiences like these motivated Mélany to look for ways to prepare to contribute to the cooperative. After graduating with her college degree, she is joining the cooperative as a bilingual secretary. Mélany is helping the cooperative transition from manual information tracking, written in notebooks in the office, to a more organized and automated system that will enable La Asunción to share their excellent coffee with broader audiences through exporting. It is her goal that through this work her cooperative members can see how capable she can be and place their trust in her.

With the support of the community and the new generation of coffee growers like Mélany, the La Asunción plots are producing high quality coffee and continuing their community and social mission. Quality was growing little by little - in 1998, the cooperative started bringing in technical assistance and harvesting with experienced personnel. In 2008, they brought in reporting on the coffee varieties and the type of soil on the farm. One challenge that La Asunción has faced has been water due to the location, which is compounded by the local government’s limits on water usage and fines for exceeding these limits. A major success this year was the creation of a community well that provides water to fuel the growth of La Asunción. Additionally, agronomists have helped the cooperative plan projects to best utilize the land. These steps, along with the love and dedication that goes into growing their coffee, make La Asunción coffee special and unique at the same time.

Today, the cooperative is a true community. All members have the opportunity to share their thoughts, goals, and challenges.La Asunción is also increasing their social work within the community and is about to start a program to provide education to the children of women working the coffee plots who would otherwise not be able to afford the fees to send their children to school.

The Cooperativa La Asunción wants to share with the world the coffee that their dedication and community produces and continue the process of developing the coffee and the cooperative. With the love and dedication of the members, alongside the innovation and passion that the next generation like Mélany bring, they are already on their way. You can read more about the history of the La Asunción cooperative here.