The farm was founded by the Moreira Latour family in the year 1920 and it is located between the Fuego and Acatenango volcanoes and the Cerro Balam Juyu biological belt. Today, Jose Moreira, agronomy graduate of San Carlos university in Guatemala, continues to cultivate coffee with a passion and a quality focus.

The name El Naranjo was born from the fact that for more than 25 years oranges of different varieties were cultivated on the farm and they were recognized for its sweetness. To this day, the region provides excellent soil conditions and a unique microclimate and the coffee is grown under the shade of chalumes and gravileas trees, species native to the Acatenango region.

Within the farm premises run five water streams that merge into Xaya river which supplies water to nearby communities and to Guatemala City itself. Thanks to the river the farm is able to produce their own hydroelectric power which makes coffee processing more sustainable.

A large part of the farm consists of a forest reserve with native trees to the region, as well as conservation of natural pine forest, a specie that has been reduced in the region in the last years.

Jose Moreira was born into coffee. He is the youngest out of five of his siblings. After his father’s passing the farm has been equally divided into five parts.

Jose kept the original name and the tradition to coffee growing and processing. All coffee is washed processed and it is all done on farm’s premises.

The coffee processing is quite unique as Jose processes his coffee the day after the picking. The reason for that is the fact that the microclimate in this particular farm comes with very low temperatures which makes the fermentation process very lengthy and uneven. Over the years of trail and error process he has found that posponding depulping one extra day speeds up and evens out the fermentation which helps producing vibrant and complex coffees. All coffees are dried in patios and moved regulary throughout the day.

Jose looks after his coffees as well as the local community. He found a way to diversify his farm by
establishing a dairy production. He produces cheese and milk that is available to the local community. It also provides an extra income throughout the year.