New Release | Guatemala Maria Romaldo

Tucked away between the Sierra de los Cuchamantes, the highest mountains in Central America, is the Coordinadora de Organizaciones de Desarrollo de Concepcion Huista, more commonly referred to as CODECH. This cooperative is comprised of 3 smaller cooperatives that all locally contribute to CODECH in the Concepcion Huista area: ADIPY and ADAT both make up  40% of production while ADINTHEC brings in the remaining 20% of production. Collectively, coffees from these sub-cooperatives are brought to collection sites for CODECH after being individually processed at their  respective farms.

OZO has been proudly partnering with CODECH for over a decade. Having visited various co-ops within the country, it was clear that the values that drove CODECH most aligned with OZO’s values, making us a strong partnership. These values include integrity, sustainability, passion, and drive to build and support community. Ozo is always eager to support CODECH in its long-term goals to grow, learn, and improve within the industry. 

The foundation of this partnership was nurtured through a trip to origin with Atlas Coffee in 2012 where Ozo and Atlas coffee teamed up to support CODECH's first ever co-op member coffee competition. From the inception of this competition, Maria Margarita Ramirez Marcos, mother of Maria Romalda, continuously placed in the top ten. Her distinct coffee was the catalyst to Ozo purchasing her coffee lot year after year. Several years later, Maria Margarita Ramirez Marcos passed away and her daughter took over operations. She is still producing incredible coffee and we continue to aim to support the next generation of coffee farmers. 

This 20 bag micro lot is only available to us at OZO Coffee. The Guatemala Maria Romalda coffee  truly encompasses a traditional Huehuetenango profile of  balancing the brightness of blackberry with the smooth essence of chocolate. Maria floats her cherries, depulps, then ferments the coffee for 8-12 hours in barrels before drying the coffee on raised nylon beds.