Guatemala Injerto Flavor Profile and Guatemala Injerto Coffee Characteristics

Farm Introduction

Finca El Injerto is located in the renowned Huehuetenango highlands of Guatemala. The Aguirre family has been growing coffee here since 1900. The farm's name, "Injerto," comes from the name of a local fruit. El Injerto places special emphasis on environmental protection and organic cultivation, applying strict quality control to ensure the quality of its green coffee. Thanks to the Aguirre family's efforts, El Injerto has earned Rainforest Alliance certification and has been a frequent champion in international coffee competitions since 2002.

El Injerto (sometimes translated as "Grafting Farm") ranks among the very top farms in Guatemala — if it claimed to be second, few would dare claim first. It has won numerous world-class competition awards, and in recent years the farm has further elevated its standing, in a way similar to Panama's famed La Esmeralda: El Injerto holds its own global auction. The auction lots are, of course, exceptional. Notably, the first lot of its "Mocha variety" in 2012 set a world record, selling at an astonishing price of $500.5 per pound — making it a true star farm.

For its auctions, El Injerto launched the "BEST El Injerto" series, selecting small lots of exceptional quality and distinctive varieties from within the farm. Experienced pickers carefully select only ripe cherries, which are then screened by cuppers to eliminate any lots that fail to meet the standard. Under this rigorous selection, the Pacamara variety accounts for roughly 8% of total production.

Pour-over El Injerto: 15g of coffee, medium grind (Fuji ghost-burr hand grinder at setting 4), V60 dripper, water temperature 88-89°C. First pour 30g of water and bloom for 27 seconds, then pour to 105g and pause. Once the water level drops to half, pour slowly up to 225g and discard the tail. Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, total extraction time 2:00.

About the Pacamara Variety

Pacamara rose to worldwide fame through the Cup of Excellence (COE) in 2004, frequently taking championships in the two to three years that followed. Pacamara from Guatemala's El Injerto set a green-bean record of $80.2 per pound in 2008. The variety was created by crossing the giant-bean Maragogype with Pacas — taking the first four letters of each name to form "Pacamara." It is an outstanding variety developed in El Salvador. The beans are very large, similar to elephant beans, roughly screen size 21-22, and Pacamara has been one of the standout varieties of Central and South America in recent years. Producers everywhere hope to find suitable terroirs for it and produce exceptional coffee, much as they have with Panama's Geisha. Pacamara is characterized by bright fruit acidity and remarkably pure, delicate sweetness. Its appearance still closely resembles that of its parent, the elephant-bean Maragogype. Since 2006, COE competitions have cupped Pacamara from 30 farms, and some lots have been true superstars — Honduras' 2006 champion Santa Martha, El Salvador's 2007 third-place Cerro Negro (Black Mountain Farm), Guatemala's perennial COE champion El Injerto, and El Salvador's 2008 runner-up Pacamaral farm. All are outstanding representatives of the variety, but because these are award-winning lots, they command very high prices.

Pacamara plants are medium to tall with short internodal spacing, large corrugated dark-green leaves, and new leaves that emerge green or bronze. The trunk is hard and stout, with thick, wide branches.

It produces more lateral branches than Typica, similar to Pacas.

The cherries have a small protrusion at the floral disc.

The beans are large and oval, approximately 1.03 cm long, 0.71 cm wide, and 0.37 cm thick.

Depending on altitude, Pacamara beans run about 70% the size of Maragogype beans.

Overall, nearly all Pacamara beans screen above 17, with more than 90% at screen 18 or larger.

Pacamara delivers full, rich, complex flavors. Few varieties combine fruit acidity with noticeable sweetness the way it does, offering diverse notes of stone fruit, vanilla-herb, tropical fruit, chocolate, and spice sweetness.

Manufacturer: Coffee Workshop
Address: No. 10 Bao'an Qian Street, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou
Contact: 020-38364473
Shelf life: 90 days
Net weight: 100g
Packaging: Bulk
Organic: No
Coffee bean state: Roasted
Sugar content: Sugar-free
Origin: Guatemala
Roast level: Medium roast

Guatemala La Libertad, Huehuetenango El Injerto Pandora de Fatima

Country: Guatemala
Grade: SHB
Farm: El Injerto
Roast level: Medium roast
Processing method: Washed
Variety: Pacamara
Batch: Competition batch Pandora de Fatima EI07
Flavor: Chestnut, plum, chocolate

Guatemala Pacamara - Competition batch Pandora de Fatima - Pacamara PI07

World's Coffee Farms - El Injerto

There are tens of thousands of coffee farms worldwide — some producing commercial-grade beans, some growing high-quality specialty lots, and a rare few cultivating exceptional varieties. Today we introduce El Injerto, a renowned top-tier farm from Guatemala that enjoys international prestige.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Panama sits in Central America, with its coffee-growing zone in the country's west: Boquet (Boquete), Volcan, Santa Clara, and Piedra de Candela — with Boquete and Volcan the two specialty regions you hear about most. Both lie in Chiriquí province, right in the heart of the coffee belt, blessed with fertile volcanic soil and old-growth forest.

If it's your first taste of Panamanian specialty coffee, FrontStreet Coffee suggests starting with its Boquete Washed Geisha. The mountains of Boquete are frequently wrapped in cloud — humid days, cool nights — and the rich soil from the Barú Volcano provides ideal conditions for growing superb Geisha. This estate-level entry Geisha is grown at 1,600 meters, and the fertile volcanic-ash soil gives the coffee a fragrant, aromatic cup with Geisha's signature jasmine florals, green tea, honey, citrus, and orange.

Another FrontStreet favorite is the Panama Washed Flower Butterfly (Blanca Flor). Geisha is a rare wild variety and a perennial champion at world tasting competitions: the raw beans are long and slender, the roasted beans deliver unexpected citrus brightness, and the finish is full of florals and fruit sweetness. Flower Butterfly carries half Geisha parentage, combining Geisha, Caturra, and Catuai, planted in the Barú Volcano area of Boquete. The local microclimate brings abundant rain and a wide day-night temperature swing, while the region's volcanic rock soil and meticulous harvesting and processing give the coffee excellent body, refined citrus acidity, and a jasmine aroma — equally good pour-over or cold brew.

For the very top of the pyramid, there is FrontStreet Coffee's Esmeralda Red-Label Geisha. Esmeralda is the estate that discovered and popularized Panama Geisha, and it grades its Geisha by cupping each plot: the Red Label is harvested from a single plot above 1,700 meters, must score 91+ on the cupping table, and shows a refined orange-blossom honey character.