. With all the trouble that goes into the cultivating of Guatemalan coffee, many wonder why it isn’t on the “A” list of coffees. In fact, this coffee is classified as a “C” list coffee, hard, as it may be to comprehend. So, if it is the best, then why isn’t it at premium prices? The processing steps that are used ultimately get a coffee onto the top premium list. To get to that level, there are over two dozen steps that have to be meticulously carried out before a coffee can be labeled “A” list. One slight omission and you fail, and for coffee growers, that’s too much to pay in time and service rendered. So they the anomaly exists that Guatemalan coffee is the best but at affordable prices. All was well in Guatemala for coffee growers right up until 2001. In 2001, the coffee market tumbled, and Guatemalan coffee growers who had been doing that for generations lost everything because the coffee market got flooded when the Vietnamese came in with a quality coffee that was even cheaper. Coffee is only next to oil when it comes to worldwide trading, it is that big a commodity, but when the Vietnamese came in with a quality coffee for dirt-cheap prices, then the whole Guatemalan coffee industry collapsed and almost became non-existent. Coffee growers who had been growing for centuries tore up the coffee crop and replaced it with something that they could make a living at, often replacing coffee, which is the most environmentally friendly crop out there with crops that required more insecticides and other environmentally harmful products Coffee growers were unemployed and were starving in the streets, save a few exceptions who have managed to keep afloat, all the while trying to get back on their feet to revitalize a devastated and vital industry. Although the coffee growers are trying to be recognized in the gourmet coffee market which would help their financial situation immensely, the gourmet coffee market has rigid standards, and so Guatemalan coffee remains at the “C” level. Where it currently it costs more to grow the coffee than to sell it, so again they are at a loss to find ways to rebound from the 2001 coffee crash. On the good side, though, there are some coffee growers working feverishly to make a comeback, and they are exploring cheaper ways to make the coffee crop a viable one so that Guatemalan coffee will take its rightful place at the top.
