Guatemala, Part 1: Whose land is it anyway?

From Filter Stories - Coffee Documentaries by James Harper

April 19, 2026 · 44 min · Season 7 · Episode 4

About this episode

This episode explores the complex history of land use and ownership in Guatemala, particularly in relation to coffee production and indigenous peoples.

When you buy a bag of coffee labelled fifth-generation family farm, it feels like a good choice. But in Guatemala, that label might actually be a signal for a more uncomfortable truth. This episode explores how land has been understood, used, and eventually fought over in Guatemala for centuries between indigenous people, Europeans and those in-between. It’s a story of what happened immediately after Guatemala won independence from Spain. This pivotal period of history gets less attention in the history books, but the suffering of the indigenous people of Guatemala gets arguably even worse. Fair warning: it's a dark story, and it will make you think twice about what you're really choosing when you pick up a bag of coffee from Central America. Please spread the word about A History of Coffee! Follow us on Instagram - James (@filterstoriespodcast) and Jonathan (@coffeehistoryjm) - and tag us in an Instagram story. Write a review on Apple Podcasts Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify This free educational content for the coffee community was made possible by Mahlkönig, manufacturers of world-leading coffee grinders for 100 years for your home and cafe. Read Jonathan’s book, Coffee: A…

People in this episode

Host: James Harper

Topics covered

coffee history
indigenous rights
land use
Guatemala
colonialism
family farms

Keywords

coffee
Guatemala
indigenous people
land ownership
colonial history
family farms
Mahlkönig

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Coffee: A Global History, Making Better Coffee: How Maya Farmers and Third Wave Taste Makers Create

Places: Guatemala, Spain