Guatemala New Oriental Cadiellas Winey Natural Pacas Flavor Characteristics, Growing Region, and Brewing Parameters

Guatemala Antigua Coffee: Volcanic Origins

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Antigua sits in a valley ringed by three volcanoes — Agua, Fuego, and Acatenango. Rich volcanic soil, low humidity, abundant sunshine, and cool nights define the region. Ash from past eruptions keeps the soil mineral-rich, while porous pumice holds moisture and offsets Antigua's limited rainfall. Dense shade trees, in turn, shield the trees from the occasional frost.

Coffee Details

Variety: Pacas

Altitude: 1,675 meters

Flavor Profile: Passion fruit, strawberry sandwich cookies, blueberry

Guatemala has more than its share of volcanoes, and coffee grown in volcanic soil here matures into a genuinely complex cup. The country's average growing altitude is high, so the trees develop under wide swings between daytime heat and nighttime cold. Those harsh conditions slow the cherries down on the branch, producing dense, hard beans with fuller, more layered flavor.

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

This newly arrived lot comes from Cardenas Estate, a top-tier farm in Guatemala's New Oriente region.

Wine-Flavored Natural Process: Pineapple, melon, dried apricot, candied lemon peel, Bordeaux wine, and green tea with cinnamon spice. The overall impression is deeply sweet, with the full-bodied aroma of smoked preserved plums.

Pacas is a natural mutation of Bourbon, much like Brazil's Caturra and Costa Rica's Villa Sarchí. Like other widely planted Bourbon mutations, it arose from a single-gene change, and that gives Pacas one crucial advantage: the plants tolerate closer spacing, which lifts yield per unit area.

Pacas was first identified in 1949 by the Pacas family in the Santa Ana region of El Salvador. Fernando Alberto Pacas Figueroa noticed a few oddly shaped trees on the family's Finca San Rafael and began collecting seed and selecting from them. He eventually planted roughly three-quarters of a hectare as a Pacas "pioneer nursery."

By 1956, Francisco de Sola and Fernando's son, Fernando Alberto Pacas Trujillo, were studying the variety with help from Professor William Cogwill in Florida. Comparing Bourbon from San Ramón against an "unknown" new plant, they found the unknown tree behaved quite differently: its morphology set it apart from Bourbon, with shorter internodes and a larger fruiting area. They named it Pacas.

Guatemala is one of Central America's most respected high-quality arabica origins. Its five volcanic and three non-volcanic regions each produce distinctive coffee, and all enjoy an excellent reputation on the international market.

Brewing Method

Pour-over, Guatemala wine-flavored natural: 15 g of coffee, medium grind (Fuji Royal ghost-tooth grinder, setting #4), V60 dripper, water at 88–89°C. Start with a 30 g pour and a 27-second bloom, then pour to 105 g and stop. When the water level drops halfway, resume a slow pour up to 225 g. Avoid the tail end. Ratio 1:15, extraction time 2:00.

New Oriente® Region

Farmers here have grown coffee entirely on smallholdings since the 1950s, and today nearly every household in these mountains is a coffee-producing unit. Once Guatemala's most remote and impoverished area, New Oriente now buzzes with activity. Rainy and cloudy, it is an ancient volcanic region whose soil evolved from volcanic metamorphic rock, leaving it mineral-rich and nutritionally balanced in a way that sets it apart from other volcanic coffee zones.

Product Information

Manufacturer: FrontStreet Coffee

Address: Bao'an Qianjie No. 10, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou City

Contact: 020-38364473

Ingredients: In-house roasted

Shelf Life: 30 days

Net Weight: 227g

Packaging: Bulk

Taste 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-flavored natural process

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If you like the deep, sweet volcanic character of this Guatemalan lot, FrontStreet Coffee also roasts a Brazil Cerrado Red Bourbon — a classic single-origin Brazilian bean and a gentle introduction to the region. Half-washed and taken to a medium roast, it opens with creamy peanut, toasted bread, caramel, and hazelnut aroma, then lands in a rounded, low-acid cup with a faint bittersweet finish. Beyond pour-over, it suits a moka pot, an espresso SOE, a siphon, and a French press just as well.

For a sweeter, fruitier Brazilian option, look to Brazil Queen Estate Yellow Bourbon from Mogiana, close to South Minas. The fertile red volcanic soil there lets the cherries draw in abundant nutrients and build a generous aroma. A rare yellow Bourbon — a red Bourbon mutation — it carries a cleaner fruit profile, with a sugarcane freshness, fruit, and chocolate that other origins rarely offer. Try it as pour-over, in a moka pot, or on a home espresso machine.

Brazilian coffee is also the backbone of FrontStreet Coffee's espresso blends, where its low acidity, balanced cup, and friendly price make it the first choice for many specialty recipes. The rich-crema Classic Blend, the intensely nutty Premium Blend, the well-rounded Black Cocoa Blend, and the shop-focused Commercial Blend all contain Brazilian beans, lending chocolate and cream aromas and a soft sweet-sour-bitter balance that helps keep extraction steady.