Nearby, at another plantation along a narrow, twisting, dirt road, a soft breeze ruffled the branches of thousands of once lush coffee trees bending under the weight of beans left unpicked. Owners could not afford to get the crop to market under current prices.

But half a country away, in the hills around Guatemala's volcano-ringed Lake Atitlan, a group of small producers held out in the hope of keeping their farms, appealing to international coffee connoisseurs to recognize the quality of their coffees and buy their beans.

The coffee roasters and importers from about a dozen consumer countries from Australia to the United States were touring Guatemalan coffee country prior to the Central American nation's second "Cup of Excellence" competition - a "cupping" fest designed to seek out its finest beans.

In an event hosted by Guatemala growers' group Anacafe, top coffee tasters from across the globe will tickle their palates with 47 of the Central American nation's finest coffees.

They will eliminate all but the very best, which will later be auctioned over the Internet, likely at prices well above market levels.

Coffee prices are barely above historically low prices reached late last year and still far below the average cost of production. Across Central America costs are high due to high labor costs and poor infrastructure, and many producers have been driven from the business after over two years of crisis.

Across Guatemala, home to some of the world's top arabicas, prestigious "estate" owners and Mayan cooperatives alike are praying for a godsend - a place on the list of winners to be released on Wednesday.

Among them is Luciano Estrada, a farmer from Jalapa near the border with El Salvador who greeted competition judges from Canada, Japan, Australia, Britain and Europe on the banks of Lake Atitlan on Friday alongside a group of local producers.

"Winning this would be a miracle from God," he said.

BORN IN BRAZIL

The Cup of Excellence cupping competition and auction was born in Brazil almost three years ago, as coffee prices began a spiral to historic lows, to promote specialty coffees in general, to pay farmers sustainable prices and connect buyers - and hence the consumer - directly with growers.

"I think one of the really exciting things about a competition like this is that it brings those of us that are in contact with the consumer into much closer contact with the grower," said Becky McKinnon, president of Timothy's World Coffee, a Canadian coffee roaster and retailer.

"We have roasters here from around the world," said Juan Jose Carlos, vice president of Anacafe, which is hosting the competition in its Guatemala City headquarters.

Jurors lined up to participate on the "cupping" board, made up of 23 tasters this year. And the number of entries more than doubled from last year, as nearly 400 farms submitted samples.

PROVEN TO CHANGE FORTUNES

Only lots of ripe beans milled with meticulous care will make it past picky judges to the finals. But making that effort has proven to change the fortunes of farmers otherwise reduced to accepting pitiful market prices from a local intermediary.

Fabio Solis, whose Las Nubes farm in the Esquipulas region near the border with Honduras won first prize in Guatemalas first competition last year, went on to sell his coffee for $11 a pound through cyberspace, about 20 times the price arabica beans fetched on the market at the time.

That dizzying price, the result of intense competition between bidders eager to claim Guatemala's best coffee as their own, is not considered sustainable in the long run.

But even if Solis never gets that price again, winning the competition had the effect desired by organizers - rewarding his push for quality by putting his name on the map and assuring him future sales at prices above the sagging market.