May 5, 2007

Under the slogan "Reaching New Heights", the Guatemalan National Coffee Association (Anacafé), started the 2007 promotional campaign for Guatemalan Coffees.

The concept is formed by elements relating coffee quality practices, higher growing altitudes as a tendency for our strictly hard bean 8 regional coffees and better markets being reached by all of our world-renown coffees.

The "barriletes" (kites) images have been adapted from one of many local guatemalan old time traditions. Vibrant and gigantic in size, Guatemala’s kites are a sight to behold. Their tissue-paper frailness is in sharp contrast to their awesome size, up to 85 feet high. Tradition tells that the Maya first built them to scare away evil spirits that rose from their grave on All Saint’s Day (November 1 every year), who prevented good souls from visiting their families. Today, the Maya use them to communicate with the dead by tying small messages to the kite string and gently tugging them to heaven.

Promotional material being used to support this campaign include a 2007 / 2008 edition of our Coffee Atlas, a collection of map-related information on the 8 coffee-growing regions, history, nature, traditions, bird watching, shade-grown coffees and modern Guatemala city facts. This material can be found now in Guatemalan Coffees booth 1011 at the 2007 SCAA Conference and exhibition being held in Long Beach California May 4-7, as you enter, you can't miss us!