About Romeo Gomez Luis

Romeo Gomez owns and operates La Joya farm in the Moxnan community of Guatemala’s Santa Barbara district. Romeo, like other producers in the Moxnan community, lives in the highest and coldest parts of the Santa Barbara mountains.

Santa Barbara is a high, mountainous area, fertile and rich in minerals (its farms are even near a literal gold mine). The temperatures are very stable throughout the year and it doesn’t rain much, leading to fairly low humidity throughout the year. Santa Barbara is an hour drive from the city of Huehuetenango. From there, getting to Yudi’s farm takes between 15 and 30 minutes by dirt road followed by a 30 minutes walk.

After harvest, coffees undergo pulping immediately. They are then fermented in wood tanks for 24 hours, dried for approximately 12 days on patios. Since La Joya farm is located so high up (2,050 meters above sea level), Romeo and his family have to carry their coffee down to the nearest part of the dirt road for a half hour to be transported by trucks to the nearest collection center about 15 minutes away.

The farm’s harvest runs from January to May. They grow red Bourbon surrounded by shade provided by native fruit trees. Romeo fertilizes his farm with organic compost made from coffee pulp.

Romeo has managed the farm with his children and his wife for 25 years. He started in the coffee business as a harvester in the big farms of the district, then inherited La Joya from his parents. He has extensive experience in management of coffee farms. For harvest, he relies on his relatives (mostly women) and only hires external staff when they have to move the coffee down the mountain for sale.

We first started working with Romeo in 2024. The agronomic practices that he uses on his farm, which he has learned during his 25 years of experience, are reflected in the quality of his lot.