Finca la Senda, which is now run by Arnoldo Pérez-Melendez and his wife Maria Eugenia Escobar, was founded in 1940.

Arnoldo's father pioneered the cultivation of coffee in the area surrounding Aldea el Socorro in Acatenango.
Arnoldo was a ‘traditional’ coffee-producing family until mid-2017. Today, Arnoldo utilises his in-depth knowledge of farming, while Maria Eugenia uses her skills as a talented cook to learn and refine the best practices of coffee fermentation and processing.

The family decided to build their own wet mill, which began construction in April 2017 and was completed in November of the same year. For high-quality coffee, the pickers only have to select cherries with the desired degree of ripeness during the harvest season. This means twice as much work.

This is also the reason why La Senda pays double the price per basket picked.

The ripe cherries, right after picked, are first washed to remove any impurities or dirt, and directly inserted into a stainless-steel tank that is usually used for winemaking. The tank is sealed, and with a controlled temperature around 18ºC, it stimulate the coffee's natural yeasts to ferment. Through a pressure valve, M.Eugenia control how much carbonic gas is being produced, and she let the coffees ferment at maximum carbonic pressure for 72 hours. After the fermentation, the coffees are dried on the patios under the sun for 12 days.