Finca La Senda is our oldest direct relationship in Central America dating back to 2017—representing a truly special timeline. After its inception in the 1940s, the Pérez family first processed their own cherry in 2017. Arnoldo Pérez Melendez continues to work the land as he has done for over 40 years focusing on cultivating traditional varieties. Maria Eugenia Escobar is responsible for the processing—a very rare thing in Guatemala, where it is mostly done by men. At retirement age she learned the basics and continues to experiment and build on the lessons from the previous harvest. She compares processing coffee to cooking, and the wet mill to her kitchen—the cherry as the main ingredient, and the processing skills as the technique.