How is the Market for Guatemala Finca Las Delicias Coffee Beans? Which Guatemalan Coffee Brand is Best?

Guatemala Finca Las Delicias

Country: Guatemala

Grade: SHB

Region: Fraijanes, Guatemala City

Altitude: 1675 meters

Harvest Period: October to February of the following year

Processing Method: Washed

Varieties: Bourbon, Caturra

Processing Mill: La Dicha Estate

Coffee was genuinely introduced to Guatemala in 1750 by Jesuit priests, and German colonists built up the local coffee industry in the late 19th century. Today most of the country's coffee production takes place in the south. Guatemala has seven main producing regions — Antigua, Coban, Atitlan, Huehuetenango, Fraijanes Plateau, Oriente, and San Marcos — each with its own climate variations, so each area's beans carry their own character. Broadly speaking, though, Guatemalan coffee shows a gentle, mellow texture with elegant aromas and a pleasant, fruit-like acidity, which has earned it the title of aristocrat among coffees.

Flavor: Black tea, floral notes, rich caramel sensation

Volcanic soil, high altitude, a humid and rainy climate, and active volcanism have shaped the unique geography of the Fraijanes Plateau. The Pacaya volcano here is the most active of Guatemala's three still-erupting volcanoes, often laying a light veil of ash over the plateau and feeding its soil with abundant minerals. The bean-drying period coincides with the plateau's sunniest season; mornings are often cloudy and foggy, but it dissipates quickly, guaranteeing sunny days.

Coffee cultivation at La Dicha Estate in the Fraijanes Plateau began in 1920. The farm grows a fairly diverse range of varieties, including Bourbon, Caturra, and Pacamara. Of its total 205 acres (1 acre = 4046.8 square meters), 173 acres are under coffee, while the remaining 32 acres of native forest provide habitat for local wildlife. Several natural springs on the farm supply ample, high-quality irrigation for the coffee plantations through the dry season — and they also power the coffee processing mill (the water used for the washed process).

Bourbon coffee (French: Café Bourbon) is coffee produced from arabica trees of the Bourbon cultivar. Bourbon was originally cultivated on Réunion Island, called Bourbon Island (Île Bourbon) before 1789; it was later occupied by France as a link between the African continent and Latin America, and today it stands among the two most widespread arabica production lines in the world. Bourbon is typically grown at 3500 to 6500 feet (1062-1972 meters).

Caturra: a single-gene mutation of Bourbon, discovered in Brazil in the 1950s. It produces more and resists disease better than Bourbon, with comparable flavor. It is suitable for cultivation at 700-1700 meters, adapting readily to altitude, though yields drop somewhat at higher elevations.

There is currently no universal grading system for coffee-growing regions. Each producing country has its own grading scheme and names, which is why coffee labels may read "SHB," "AA+," "Supremo," "Extra-Fancy," "Peaberry / Small fruit," and so on. These are coffee grade names. Commercially sold roasted beans sometimes state the grade of a single-origin coffee — the more detailed the grade indication, generally the better the quality — but ordinary commercial coffee usually skips them.

Hand-poured Guatemala La Dicha: 15g of coffee, medium grind (Fujiyama ghost-tooth blade grinder 4), V60 dripper, 88-89°C water. First pour 30g of water and let bloom for 27 seconds, then pour to 105g and stop. Wait until the water level in the coffee bed drops to half before pouring again, then pour slowly until reaching 225g total water, avoiding the tail section. Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, extraction time 2:00.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Washing is the traditional way of processing coffee cherries with water. The steps typically include floating and sorting, depulping, soaking and fermenting to remove the mucilage, rinsing or further soaking, and drying before hulling. Long exposure to water drives chemical changes inside the beans and consumes much of their simple sugars (fructose and glucose), lowering sugar content while raising various organic acids. Washed coffee therefore tends to preserve more of the bean's own aromatics while showing bright fruit acidity and a clean, fresh cup.

If washed coffee interests you, the FrontStreet Yirgacheffe Gotting Cooperative lot is a fine example. Smallholder yields around Yirgacheffe mean farmers send their cherries to cooperatives for shared processing, and the Gotting cooperative team from Gotting village has built a reputation on remarkably refined, clean flavors. The washed process lets it show jasmine florals and bright citrus acidity at their fullest, and after a medium-light roast the cup picks up green tea and honey tones — versatile enough for pour-over, cold brew, or espresso.

Another washed standout is the FrontStreet Kenya cherry-toned lot: Kenya excels at double-washed processing, repeating the wash step — floating, soaking, rinsing off residual mucilage, soaking again, then drying, hulling, and storage. All that washing and soaking pushes the fruit-juice character to the extreme, with rich aromas of cherry tomato, smoked plum, snow pear, black plum, and yellow sugar — sweet-tart and juicy, a favorite among coffee enthusiasts.

And for a classic, look to the FrontStreet Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1. Jamaica's island climate brings shorter sunshine hours than most origins, and washing was born precisely to reduce the risk of beans spoiling: removing skin, pulp, and mucilage before drying cuts the moisture locked around the bean and shortens drying time, producing beans of bright, translucent color and low defect rates. It keeps Blue Mountain coffee's aroma dense and pure — hazelnut, cream, chocolate, and caramel in a perfectly balanced cup where nothing sticks out and nothing is missing.