After riping the cherries, the coffee is taken to Bella Vista for wet and dry mill.
Coffee is separated by lots (day of picking, variety, altitude). Then it goes through
the whole process of depulping, fermentation, washing and the drying process.
The coffee could be sun-dried in patios or in the greenhouse. The greenhouse
allows to dry the coffee in a controlled environment and gradually, which results
in a better cup. The airflow permits a more uniform drying process and the coffee
beans can easily be hand sorted.
After some resting time in our warehouses, the coffee goes through the dry mill
process. The parchment from the coffee is removed and then the green beans are
separated by size and weight. Finally the coffee is picked by an electronic
classifier machine, which removes all the damaged beans by using a color scale.
Through all this process we assure the best quality coffee from the Antigua
Region.
Bella Vista, a wet/dry mill and export company led by Luis Pedro Zelaya Zamora (LPZZ), a fourth-generation coffee producer and trained agronomist.
For many years, the Zelaya family’s business focus was on commercial coffee production and export. This changed in 2000 when LPZZ began developing and changing Bella Vista’s focus into specialty coffee and microlots, with the support of some early clients.
Over time Bella Vista has been able to successfully transition into a business solely focusing on specialty coffee. For the Zelaya family, their coffee endeavours are not only about business: their aim is always to provide a good base for the prosperity of future generations of their family and community. With this in mind, the Bella Vista team is constantly looking for ways to provide jobs to as many families in their surrounding communities as possible, along with supplying the best quality coffee they can.
In addition to processing, milling and exporting coffee, the Bella Vista team, who have considerable training in modern agronomy education, manage many of the fincas from which they buy coffee. In more recent seasons, Bella Vista have expanded further outside their Antigua home to work with smallholder families who otherwise find it challenging to process coffee and find good markets for their lots.
One such program is called Hunapu (‘mountain flower’ in the Indigenous K’iche language), a blend of coffee made up of different small producers who own small farms around Antigua (one to four hectares in size), between the altitudes of 1500 to 1800 meters above sea level. Hunapu coffee is sorted into day lots. It is programs such as these that keep us coming back to Bella Vista year-after-year.
