Seasonal Guatemala Santa Rosa Valley 250g Beans

This seasonal pick of coffee comes from the Santa Rosa Valley in south-central Guatemala, a region beautifully shaped by rolling hills, mineral-rich volcanic soils, and elevations at 1,450 metres above sea level. Coffee grown in this valley has a long history in Guatemala known for its rich flavour and exciting cup profiles. Benefiting from high altitudes, abundant rainfall, and an exceptional diversity of microclimates. These conditions in the valley allow coffee to mature more slowly, concentrating sugars and showcasing why coffee from the Santa Rosa Valley is quickly becoming an area with big potential.

This coffee is harvested at Santa Ileana Farm, a member of the Cooperativa Integral Agrícola Nueva Esperanza del Bosque (CONEBOSQUE). A co-op who's members are committed to strengthening the social and economic sustainability of local farming communities. Santa Ileana spans approximately 70 hectares of farmland and is located within the Santa Ileana Estate in Pueblo Nuevo Viñas. The farm cultivates a diverse range of high-yield, specialty Arabica varietals, benefiting from the area’s volcanic soils, high elevations, and favourable microclimate. Harvesting of Santa Ileana’s finest specialty coffees typically takes place between January and March, when cherries reach optimal ripeness. The farm’s commitment to quality has earned national recognition, including a 11th-place ranking among hundreds of farms at the 2014 ANACAFÉ Coffee Auction, highlighting its standing within Guatemala’s specialty coffee sector.

Coffee here is grown under native shade trees across more than 40 hectares, including species such as the Inga Jinicuil, which play a vital role in maintaining soil health and biodiversity. This traditional shade-grown system supports birds, pollinators, and beneficial insects that help manage pests naturally, reducing the need for chemical inputs. The shade also creates a cooler, more stable growing environment, slowing cherry maturation and allowing the beans to develop greater density and more complex flavour profiles. All coffee is hand-picked, ensuring only fully ripe cherries are selected. After harvest, the coffee undergoes a careful washed process, using fresh water to enhance clarity, brightness, and balance in the cup. This meticulous approach from cultivation to processing reflects Santa Ileana’s dedication to quality and sustainability, and contributes to Santa Rosa’s growing reputation as an origin for exceptional Arabica coffee.

Why Our Coffee is The Best?

Sourcing the Pick of the Crop

Established relationships with producers and the coffee farming community means we can consistently source the best Arabica and Robusta beans from over 40 origins across the Coffee Growing Belt. At Kingdom Coffee we always demand the pick of the crop. We buy Grade 1 or “Strictly High Grown” – SHG coffee beans. By selecting only coffee beans from the highest elevations we can be sure that the bean has matured more slowly, grown to a larger size and with more density to create a consistently great taste profile.

There’s no denying that coffee grown at higher elevations produces the best flavour profiles, which is then sorted and graded by the farmers with greater care and attention and therefore command a higher premium price which we are very happy to pay! We believe passionately that farmers should be rewarded fairly for their hard work and the quality of their crop.

 

 

Investing in the Purest and Cleanest Roast

ROASTING BETTER: We are unique in that we roast on a clean bed of air in small batches as opposed to conventional drum roasting - only 1% of coffee is roasted this way. Air roasting elevates the natural sweetness to give a smooth and pure taste. Unlike traditional roasting, the chaff, the skin of the bean, that surrounds the raw bean is removed during the air process whilst in normal roasting this is burnt onto the bean. This makes the resultant air roasted beans more pure as the beans will taste less burnt and acidic.

CONSISTENCY: Another benefit to Air Roasting is consistency - typical roasters rely upon roasting “to colour“ which returns a high degree of variance from batch to batch. The Air Roasters rely upon exact metrics such as temperature and time with specific profiles that have been developed by our Q Grader, a certified coffee professional, to suit the particular bean. An exact science rather than guess work.

 

 

Protecting the Environment

We all have to recognise and assess our individual impact upon the environment. Our new Air Roaster uses 30% less energy than a typical roaster and reduces wasted heat by recirculating it in a fully enclosed system. We have a catalytic converter to ensure that harmful gases released are reduced by around 96%. Committing further to minimise our impact on the planet we have moved our packaging to 100% curb-side recyclable. This new packaging still protects that fresh roasted taste.

 

 

OUR BEANS are amongst the freshest on the market, being roasted to stock in the UK as opposed to importing roasted beans on a much longer timescale. Our Neotech roaster is more environmentally friendly, energy efficient and better than conventional drum roasters in that it can roast in specific small batches with unique roasting profiles that are able to compensate product variations and unfold the unique flavour of each individual coffee blend whilst reducing wasted heat by recirculating in the fully enclosed system.

Our range of Ethical coffees support our partnership with Toybox, who we aim to donate £100,000 over a period of ten years, having donated £50,000 in the last 5 years. This enabled Toybox to provide the resources needed for the street outreach team throughout 2020, conducting 240 visits to children in the most high-risk areas in Guatemala City as well as deliver 100 children across the city a warm and nutritious meal each week. Your continued support of Kingdom Coffee means that we can fund vital projects like this so thank you very much!