Dear Green Coffee: Guatemala, Red de Mujeres, Washed

The Red de Mujeres, or "Network of Women" is a large group of female coffee producers covering five different areas of Huehuetenango. The group is made up of 830 women, but this particular lot comes from the San Antonio Huista area and is the product of 50 producers. Within the entire community of women there are 8 different Mayan languages spoken, highlighting the diversity of culture and language in this area of Guatemala.

All of these women have been either widowed during the 36 years of civil war in Guatemala, or were left when their husbands fled the country during the coffee crisis between 2001-2004. Since Huehuetenango was one of the areas hardest hit by the crisis many people decided to give up all together and find work elsewhere, leaving their families behind.