Finca Filadelfia - Bourbon, Caturra - Washed

In Guatemala in the late 1800's, there was an economic crisis due to the industrial revolution in Europe.

My tatara tatara abuelo Manuel Matheu Sinibaldi was one of the first in the region to start growing coffee.

After the first harvest, he came to London to sell it and well, the rest is history!

Finca Filadelfia placed 2nd in the first-ever cup of excellence in Guatemala and in 2026, won best coffee in Antigua.

Cherries are selected by Brix reading and colour, then sorted, weighed, and transported to the wet mill. After flotation to remove defects, the coffee is pulped and fermented in concrete tanks for 24–36 hours. It then rests in clean water for a further 24 hours before passing through washing channels, where density sorting removes any remaining low-quality beans.

The coffee is dried on open patios for three days, then finished in a machine dryer at low temperature for another three — preserving quality and reaching ideal moisture before parchment removal and storage.

Antigua

The Antigua region holds a special place in the Rascal story — it is where our family's coffee journey began. Manuel Matheu Sinibaldi, our great great great grandfather, is considered the grandfather of Guatemalan coffee, pioneering its cultivation in the region in 1870.

But coffee's roots in Antigua go back even further. Jesuit priests first brought coffee plants to the city in the early 1800s, using them as decoration in the convents — little knowing that this bright red fruit would one day become Guatemala's most exported product.

Antigua's coffee grows across a valley cradled by three volcanoes — Agua (Water), Acatenango, and Fuego (Fire). Centuries of eruptions have deposited mineral-rich ash across the valley, creating the fertile volcanic soil that defines the region's coffee. The gravilea tree, Antigua's primary shade tree, protects the plants from frost.

In 1979, UNESCO declared Antigua a World Heritage Site — a living museum of Spanish Baroque architecture and a collision of Mayan, colonial, and modern culture. Many families here have multi-generational connections to specific farms, passing down knowledge and skills tied directly to coffee production. Rising demand for property, however, threatens this legacy. Keeping coffee in Antigua means ensuring farmers are genuinely rewarded for the quality they produce — something we are deeply committed to.