Guatemala Finca Las Delicias Washed Specialty Coffee Beans: Grading, Pricing, Green Beans, and Roast Levels

Guatemala Finca Las Deliclas

Country: Guatemala

Grade: SHB

Region: Fraijanes, Guatemala City

Altitude: 1675 meters

Harvest period: October to February of the following year

Process: Washed

Varieties: Bourbon, Caturra

Processing mill: Finca La Dicha

Coffee was genuinely introduced to Guatemala in 1750 by Jesuit priests, and German settlers developed the local coffee industry in the late 19th century. Today, most production takes place in the southern part of the country. Guatemala has seven major coffee regions-Antigua, Coban, Atitlan, Huehuetenango, Fraijanes, Oriente, and San Marcos-and each has its own climate variations, so the beans from each carry their own distinctive character. Broadly speaking, Guatemalan coffee shows a gentle, rich overall texture with elegant aromatics and pleasant, fruit-like acidity, which is why it is often called the aristocrat of coffees.

Flavor profile: Black tea, florals, rich caramel sweetness

Volcanic soil, high altitude, and a humid, rainy climate, layered on top of active volcanism, created the unique growing conditions of the Fraijanes plateau. The Pacaya volcano here is the most active of Guatemala's three still-erupting volcanoes, and it often dusts the Fraijanes plateau with a thin layer of ash while feeding abundant minerals into the soil. The coffee drying season coincides with the plateau's sunniest stretch: mornings are often cloudy and foggy, but the haze burns off quickly, guaranteeing excellent sun exposure.

Coffee cultivation at Finca La Dicha in the Fraijanes plateau began in 1920. The farm grows a diverse mix of varieties, including Bourbon, Caturra, and Pacamara. Of the total 205 acres (1 acre = 4046.8 square meters), 173 acres are planted with coffee, while the remaining 32 acres of native forest serve as habitat for local wildlife. Several natural springs on the farm provide ample, high-quality irrigation for the coffee during the dry season-and they also power the processing plant (including the water for washing).

Bourbon coffee (French: Café Bourbon) comes from Arabica trees of the Bourbon cultivar. Bourbon was first cultivated on Réunion Island, which was called Île Bourbon before 1789. It is now one of the two most widely grown Arabica coffees in the world. Bourbon is typically grown at altitudes of 3500-6500 feet (1062-1972 meters).

Caturra: a single-gene mutation of Bourbon, discovered in Brazil in the 1950s. It out-yields Bourbon with better disease resistance and comparable cup quality. It suits cultivation at 700-1700 meters and adapts well across elevations, though yields taper off at higher altitudes.

Coffee grading systems are not unified worldwide-each producing country has its own system and terminology, so you might see labels like "SHB," "AA+," "Supremo," "Extra-Fancy," or "Peaberry" on packaging. These are grade names. Roasted coffees on the market sometimes list the grade of a single origin; the more detailed the grading, the better the quality usually is, while commodity-grade coffee generally carries no grade at all.

Pour-over brewing for Guatemala Finca La Dicha: 15g of coffee, medium grind (Fuji R-4 grinder), V60 dripper, water at 88-89°C. First pour 30g of water and bloom for 27 seconds, then pour to 105g and pause. Once the water level in the coffee bed drops to half, continue pouring slowly up to 225g, avoiding the tail end. Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, extraction time 2:00.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Washing is the traditional way of processing cherries with water: flotation, de-pulping, a soak-and-ferment step to strip the mucilage, a rinse or further soak, then drying and hulling. The long water contact drives chemical changes inside the bean, consuming simple sugars and increasing organic acids-which is why washed coffees keep more of the bean's own character while showing bright fruit acidity, clarity, and freshness.

Two FrontStreet washed lots show that character beautifully. The FrontStreet Kenya Cherry Tomato is one of the best-known washed coffees there is, since Kenya excels at double-washed processing: an extra wash-and-soak cycle squeezes out an extreme juiciness, with rich notes of cherry tomato, dark plum, snow pear, black plum, and yellow sugar-a sweet-tart, juicy favorite among coffee enthusiasts. The FrontStreet Jamaica Blue Mountain No.1 shows the other side of washing: Jamaica's island climate brings less sunshine, and washing shortens drying time so the beans stay luminous and low in defects. The cup is balanced and pure, with hazelnut, cream, chocolate, and caramel notes, and no single flavor dominating or falling short.

For the Guatemala lot above, stick to the recipe given here-15g, medium grind size, 88-89°C water, 1:15 ratio-and the black tea, florals, and caramel sweetness will come through clean and sweet.