After purchasing Guadalupe Zaju in 2004, Eduardo ‘Teddy’ Esteve purchased two neighbouring farms – La Gloria and Chanjul – in 2011, all of which are run, today, under the name of Guadalupe Zaju.

Currently, only 350 hectares of the farm’s total 600 hectares are under coffee. Teddy has set about expanding the area under coffee – mostly with resistant varieties that, nonetheless, offer a great cup (such as Marsellesa and various Hybrids). Maintaining forestland is a commitment, however, and it is almost certain that a portion of the farm will remain forested. 

All coffee on the farm is selectively hand harvested and sorted, again, when it is delivered to the farms mill. The coffee is pulped using a Penagos 7500 ecopulper, which separates ripe and underripe/underweight cherries again, along with removing any debris remaining with the cherries. The coffee then goes through a demucilaginator, removing the sticky mucilage attached to the bean. 

After pulping, coffee is sorted by density and delivered to separate piles to ferment between 12 hours, depending on the weather at the time. The region experiences insufficient sun to dry the entirety of the farm’s production on patios, so all of the export quality coffee is dried using the farm’s 10 guardiolas, or mechanical steel drums. Temperatures of these wood fired driers are carefully monitored, and coffee is dried at a slow and constant temperature of 40 degrees until they reach between 11-12% humidity. Thus, the coffee is pre-dried on patios and in guardiolas for 40 – 45 hours.