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 History
of the Farm
Cafetal el Ojo de Agua
 This
original part of the farm was planted by Eduardo Godoy's
grandfather, Carlos Menendez Marin, in 1908, almost a century
ago. The coffee plants that were planted at this time were the
original arabica varieties, "bourbon,"
"arabigo" and "tipica."
These varieties are
now rarely seen in modern day farms as the newer, more
resistant, hybrids yield more productive crops. However, with
the advent of the gourmet and specialty markets, more farms are
going back to the original, more flavorful varieties. Many of
these original century old trees still exist in the cool, shady
forest of this property. Every 10 years they are radically
pruned down to 12 inches of trunk, where the faithful roots
coerce the foliage back once again.
This
farm, as well as the newer parts of it, has always been shaded
with native trees, mostly nitrogen-fixing variety to nourish the
soil. There has never been a need for chemical fertilizers or
pesticides in this nature reserve. The natural fertilizers that
are applied to the trees are by-products of the coffee process
itself, composted with other on-farm produced organic material.
In
1992, the wet mill was built in Las Margaritas, the newer
section of the farm. This was installed because of the need to
maintain the quality and integrity of the farm's production.
Until then, the beans were mixed with that of other farms and exported in green bean. This was the year that Godoys de
Guatemala, S.A. was formed with the purpose of producing a
quality roasted coffee for consumption and export.
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