The highlands of Guatemala produce several of the worlds finest and most distinctive coffees. Shade Grown with superb aroma and flavor, lively and hearty in the cup with medium full body, stunning acidity and fruit, and hints (more than mild suggestions) of chocolate, cinnamon & spice.
Cup Profile: High Acidity, Clean with Fruit
Harvest Times: October - March
Altitude Meters: 1,400 - 2,000
Botanical Varieties: Bourbon, Caturra, Catuai, Panche, Typica
Growing Regions: Hue Hue Tenango, Atitlan, Antigua, Coban, San Marcos
Specialty Preparations: Pulped Natural - Semi-washed by pulping with water before patio drying
Washed - Pulping and fermentation before patio drying
Introduced: Introduced by Jesuits in 1750
Guatemalan coffees are some of the most amazing fragrant and aromatic coffees in the world. The highlands of Guatemala produce several of the worlds finest and most distinctive coffees. The mountain basin surrounding the beautiful colonial city Guatemala Antigua produces the most distinguished of these highland coffees: Guatemala Antigua, a coffee that combines complex nuance (smoke, spice, flowers, occasionally chocolate) with acidity ranging from gently bright to austerely powerful. Fraijanes displays similar cup characteristics. Other Guatemala coffees, perhaps because they are more exposed to wet ocean weather than the mountain-protected Antigua basin, tend to display slightly softer, often less powerful, but equally complexly nuanced profiles. These softer Guatemalas include Cobán, admired for its fullish body and gentle, deep, rounded profile, Huehuetenango from the Caribbean-facing slopes of the central mountain range, and San Marcos coffees from the Pacific-facing slopes. Coffees from the basin surrounding Lake Atitlan in south central Guatemala typically offer the same complex nuance as Antiguas but are lighter in body and brighter in flavor.
The highest grade of Guatemala coffee is Strictly Hard Bean (SHB). The regionally designated coffees (Antigua, Atitlan, Cobán, Hue Hue Tenango, etc) are tasted and approved as meeting flavor profile criteria established for these regions by ANACAFE, the Guatemalan coffee association. Those coffees that do not meet regional flavor profile criteria are only allowed to be sold as Strictly Hard Bean without regional designation.
Generally, Guatemala has preserved more of the traditional typica and bourbon varieties of arabica than many other Latin American growing countries, which may account for the generally superior complexity of the Guatemala cup. Most Guatemala coffee is grown in shade, ranging from rigorously managed shade on large farms to the serendipitous thickets of small growers. |
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