Long Beach, California, hosted the 19th Convention and Exhibition of the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) held from May 4 to 7.

This magnificent event gathered around 7,000 people from around the world, whom are related to coffee.  Guatemalan Coffees participated with a booth in the exhibition area, where attendees had the opportunity to taste our eight regional coffees: Antigua Coffee, Traditional Atitlán, Rainforest Cobán, Fraijanes Plateau, Highland Huehue, New Oriente, Volcanic San Marcos and just introduced Acatenango Valley.

Visitors also received the Coffee Atlas 2007/2008 developed under the concept “Reaching new heights”.  This printed material provides integral information that helps in getting to know and understand Guatemalan Coffees.

Antigua Coffee was also represented by its producers.  The Antigua Coffee Producers Association (APCA, by its Spanish acronym) also counted with a booth, where people could taste their coffee and obtain material on the history and quality of Antigua beans.

Among other activities, Guatemalan Coffees representatives participated on diverse conferences on topics like denomination of origin, nature preservation, specialty coffee market evolution and certifications.  Besides, coffee from El Injerto farm, located in the Huehuetenango region, attained the second place in the Roasters Guild Cupping Pavilion, and a renowned Guatemalan coffee grower, Max Quirin, was elected as Director of SCAA Board.

“We feel satisfied with the achieved goals, and we will keep on working to go further next year,” emphasized Christian Rasch, Guatemalan National Coffee Association’s (Anacafé) Chairman.