The Story Behind Guatemala's New Oriental Cadillas Estate Winey Natural Pacas

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Guatemala is a country of many volcanoes, and coffee grown in its volcanic soil is rich in flavor and represents specialty coffee quality. Guatemala's high average altitude means its coffee trees grow in environments with wide swings between day and night temperatures. This demanding environment, with its large temperature variation, causes the cherries to ripen more slowly on the tree, producing hard beans with more complete and complex flavors.

Wine-Aroma Natural Guatemala Pour-Over

Use 15g of coffee ground to a medium setting (using Fuji's ghost-tooth blade grinder #4), a V60 dripper, and water at 88-89°C. First pour 30g of water and let it bloom for 27 seconds. Continue pouring to 105g, then pause. Once the water level drops halfway, pour slowly until you reach 225g, avoiding the tail section. The water-to-coffee ratio is 1:15 and total extraction time is 2:00.

Product Information

Manufacturer: FrontStreet Coffee
Address: No. 10 Bao'an Front Street, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou
Contact: 020-38364473
Ingredients: In-house roasted
Shelf Life: 30 days
Net Weight: 227g
Packaging: Bulk
Flavor Profile: Neutral
Bean State: Roasted coffee beans
Sugar Content: Sugar-free
Origin: Guatemala
Coffee Type: Other
Roast Level: Medium roast

Guatemala Plan del Guayabo Estate

Country: Guatemala

Region: New Oriente

Estate: Cardenas Estate

Grade: SHB

Processing Method: Wine-Aroma Natural Processing

New Oriente Region

This region is characterized by fertile volcanic soil, lower humidity, abundant sunshine, and cool nights. The valley is ringed by three volcanoes: Agua, Fuego, and Acatenango. Ash from their eruptions enriches the soil of the Antigua region with minerals. Volcanic pumice holds moisture, which offsets the disadvantage of low rainfall in the Antigua region. Dense tree shade protects the trees from occasional frost damage.

Variety: Pacas

Altitude: 1,675 meters

Flavor Notes: Passion fruit, strawberry sandwich cookies, blueberry

Characteristics: Rich wet aroma, good balance, high sweetness, and an elegant, ethereal mouthfeel.

This newly arrived coffee comes from the Cardenas Estate, a top-tier plantation in the New Oriente region of Guatemala.

Wine-Aroma Natural Flavor Profile

Pineapple, muskmelon, dried apricot, candied lemon peel, Bordeaux wine, green tea with cinnamon spice, overall rich in sweet flavors with a full-bodied smoky plum aroma.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

This Guatemala lot is a wine-aroma natural, so the closest counterpart on FrontStreet's list is FrontStreet Ethiopia Huakui. Like this Guatemalan coffee, Huakui is a natural-process lot, and it shares the same ripe tropical fruit character. Huakui mixes several undifferentiated native Ethiopian varieties, so the beans vary in size, yet it carries a delicate floral note with especially prominent fruit. In the cup you can find cream strawberry, mango, jackfruit, citrus, and blueberry, the signature ripe tropical profile of FrontStreet's Sidamo natural beans. It is both delicious and fairly priced, and, brewed in a V60 with the same 15g dose and a medium grind, it shows off the aromatic fruit that makes this style so memorable.

If you would rather explore a gentler natural coffee, FrontStreet Yunnan 2013 Sun-dried Typica is a fine follow-up. It drinks very clean, with citrus and caramel woven together; a medium-dark roast adds a touch of nut, chocolate, and brown sugar, with moderate acidity and well-balanced layers that carry the character of the Yunnan growing region. Both coffees are floral and fruit-forward, exactly the profile a V60 with a fast, three-stage pour is built to highlight, so start with 30g of water for the bloom and finish around 225g for a clean, aromatic cup.