We are again having troubles with our credit card processor.  They have limited our online monthly transactions and when we reach this arbitrary number that they have set for us, they block any incoming new transactions until the next month begins, and we start over.  Yes, it is very hard believe, but it’s true. 

Please use the paypal option if the other refuses to process your credit card!

I am in the process of exploring other options for international business.  Please bare with me! 

One day a year is all you get.  If you miss that day you will have to wait for the following year.  This year the coffee blossoms lit up the farm on April 24th.  On this particular day the fields look as though a sprinkling of snow has fallen during the previous night.  When they wake in their splendor, the scent is overpowering.  The coffee blossoms emit a sweet honeysuckle-like fragrance which permeates the air.  By noon all the winged insects in the area have discovered them as well.  Bees and butterflies flicker and alight throughout the plantation pollinating the coffee for next year’s crop.

It’s the end of February and yesterday we brought a load of coffee to Guatemala City from the farm.  We brought a truckload full of 260 sacks of 120lbs. each of parchment.  Each sack is worth several hundred dollars so the driver and his assistants were armed as were those who drove behind the truck for security.  The most dangerous part of the coffee business is the transportation.  Fortunately the truck with the bulk of the crop was not held up.

 The crop this year looks excellent.  Coffee is like wine grapes.  The depth of flavor from each crop varies slightly from the year before.  We haven’t yet cupped this years crop but that will be in the coming weeks.

The coffee harvest started yesterday (Jan. 2) right on schedule and right in the middle of a terrible wind storm.  The electricity in most of the country went off in the afternoon.  In Guatemala City the darkness lasted for three hours and in many areas of the country there still is no light.  The coffee farm is no exception. 

 Coffee must be processed within 24 hours of picking or it begins to ferment.  Since Moyuta is one of the places where the electricity has not been restored, we are watching the clock with bated breath.  We have not been able to start processing and figure that we can only wait until noon today until extreme measures must be taken not to ruin yesterdays picked coffee.  

What can be done?  Our only alternative would be to resack up all the cherries that are now awaiting processing in large vats and haul them by pickup to a processor who either has electricity in another town, or to a processor that has its own generator.  Not good news, but doable. 

Thanks for coming to our new web blog!  I will try to keep you updated on the latest news from our company, coffee facts and advice and answer any questions that you may have about Guatemala, coffee, Godoys or whatever else I can help you with!

 NEW PAYMENT OPTION

 We are so thrilled here to be able to offer you the Paypal payment option directly through our website.  In the coming months you will have either the option of our regular payment system, or the new Paypal system.  Whenever a payment is declined for some reason that may or may not be valid, the Paypal alternate order page will pop up to take that order.  Most likely it will go through there.  Because our other credit card processor is the only one in Central America, they tend to decline orders for invalid reasons (competition is a GOOD thing for everyone).  They won’t take debit cards, they won’t allow too many transactions, etc.