FrontStreet Coffee Presents: Guatemala Finca El Domo - Varietal Differences, Distinctions, and Award Recognition

Differences, Distinctions, and Awards of Guatemala Plan del Guayabo Estate Single Origin Coffee

Wine-like natural flavor: Pineapple, muskmelon, dried apricot, candied lemon peel, Bordeaux wine, green tea and cinnamon spices, overall rich in sweet flavors and full-bodied smoky plum aroma.

Product Information

Manufacturer: FrontStreet Coffee

Ingredients: In-house roasted

Shelf life: 30 days

Net weight: 227g

Packaging: Bulk

Taste: Neutral

Coffee 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: Antigua

Estate: Plan del Guayabo (Dome Estate)

Producer: Mr. Benjamin Donado

Processing method: Wine-like natural processing

Variety: Bourbon

Altitude: 1675 meters

Flavor: Pineapple, brandy, white wine

Guatemala is a country with numerous volcanoes, and coffee grown in volcanic soil yields rich, distinctive specialty coffee. The country's high average altitude means coffee trees grow under significant day-night temperature swings. That harsh environment lets the cherries mature longer and more slowly on the tree, producing hard, dense beans with more complete and complex flavors.

Antigua Region

Rich volcanic soil, low humidity, abundant sunshine, and cool nights characterize this region. The valley is ringed by three volcanoes: Agua, Fuego, and Acatenango. Ash from their eruptions has enriched Antigua's soil with minerals, while volcanic pumice retains moisture and offsets the region's low rainfall. Dense tree shade guards against occasional frost.

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

This newly arrived coffee comes from Plan del Guayabo Estate in Guatemala's Antigua region. Bourbon: In the 18th century, the French planted seedlings on Réunion Island in the Indian Ocean, where a mutation occurred. The resulting beans have curved shapes and smaller seeds, suit high-altitude cultivation, and became an important lineage in the coffee family and a treasure of the specialty market. Bourbon's new leaves are green, and the angle between fruitless new branches and the main trunk is narrower, about 45 degrees.

Finca Filadelfia is also known as La Cupula Estate.

La Cupula in Spanish refers to the highest part in traditional Spanish architecture, shaped like a dome.

(Therefore, we tentatively translate it as "Dome," please see attached picture). The name La Cupula indicates that this estate sits in the highest area of the entire Antigua region, with altitudes reaching 1650-2100 meters.

The current estate owner, Mr. Roberto Dalton, is already the fourth generation to run the farm.

In 1869/1870, his great-grandfather Mr. Manuel Matheu Sinibaldi painstakingly established the estate.

After four generations of inheritance, the family still brings the same passion and tradition to producing high-quality coffee here.

In 2001, when the Cup of Excellence was first held in Guatemala, the estate took second place.

The area's most famous feature is its superb natural setting, surrounded by three volcanoes: Volcan Fuego, Volcan Agua, and Volcan Acatenango.

Volcan Fuego in particular is one of only three active volcanoes remaining in Guatemala.

It still erupts from time to time.

The ash it ejects continuously replenishes the fertile soil of the area.

That unique natural advantage makes this an exceptionally excellent production region.

Flavor Description

Citrus peel, grapefruit honey tea wet aroma, with solid mouthfeel and sweetness of dark chocolate, brown sugar, maple, almonds, etc.

Bright, clear fruit acidity of grapefruit mixed with honey flavor.

Sweet and sour sensation of berries and cherries, with delicate and long aftertaste.

Guatemala Country Profile

Population: 15,438,000

Guatemala has been more successful than most countries in defining its key coffee regions and developing markets with distinctly different sales models. Based on experience, coffee from each region shows consistent flavor characteristics, although these have not yet been strictly codified.

SAN MARCOS

San Marcos is both the warmest and the rainiest coffee-growing area in Guatemala. On the slopes facing the Pacific Ocean, the rainy season arrives early, so flowering starts earlier than elsewhere. Rainfall greatly affects drying after harvest, so some farms use both sun-drying and mechanical drying. Agriculture is the region's economic pillar, also producing food, fruit, meat, and wool.

Altitude: 1300-1800m

Harvest: December-March

Varieties: Bourbon, Caturra, Catuai

ACATENANGO

The Acatenango coffee region surrounds the Acatenango Valley, named after the volcano. In the past, many producers sold their coffee to "coyotes" who hauled the beans to the Antigua region for processing, because Antigua coffee enjoyed a better reputation and higher prices. That practice is now far less common: Acatenango specialty-region coffee produces excellent beans with growing recognition, making coffee from this region both profitable and traceable.

Altitude: 1,300-2,000m

Harvest: December-March

Varieties: Bourbon, Caturra, Catuai

ATITLAN

In Atitlan, coffee farms sit around Lake Atitlan, which lies at 1,500 meters (4,900 feet) and has captured the hearts of writers and travelers alike with its stunning beauty. Strong winds are common here in late morning and early afternoon - locals call them "xocomil," meaning "the wind that carries away sins." Several private nature reserves protect the region's biodiversity and help prevent deforestation. Rising labor costs and competition for workers put pressure on coffee production, and urban expansion has increased pressure on land use, with some farmers finding it more profitable to sell their land than to keep growing coffee.

COBAN

Before World War II, German coffee producers controlled this region, and the name of Coban town dates from that era of growth and prosperity. The dense tropical rainforest climate creates a very humid environment, which makes coffee drying challenging. The area is difficult and expensive to reach, yet amazing coffees still come from here.

Altitude: 1,300-1,500m

Harvest: December-March

Varieties: Bourbon, Maragogype, Catuai, Caturra, Pache

ANTIGUA

Antigua may be Guatemala's most famous coffee region. It takes its name from the old capital, "Antigua City," with its famous Spanish architecture and UNESCO World Heritage sites. Because the market was once flooded with counterfeit beans that devalued Antigua coffee, in 2000 the region's beans earned the origin designation "Authentic Antigua Coffee." That did not entirely stop fakes made from beans imported from elsewhere and processed locally. Even so, setting aside the overpriced imitations, it is still possible to find high-quality, worthwhile, genuinely Antigua-grown beans through traceability.

Altitude: 1,500-1,700m

Harvest: January-March

Varieties: Bourbon, Catuai, Caturra

Runner-up Estate of Guatemala's First Cup of Excellence (2001 Cup of Excellence)

Country: Guatemala

Region: Antigua

Estate: La Cupula, also known as Filadelfia Estate

Altitude: 1,650-2,100 meters

Estate History: Established in 1870

Estate Owner: Mr. Roberto Dalton

Cultivated Varieties: Bourbon, Villa Sarchi, Castillo (this batch is Bourbon variety)

Processing Method: Washed/Honey/Natural (this batch is Washed)

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Natural (sun-dried) processing is the oldest coffee preparation method and still the most widely used. Ripe cherries are laid out in the sun whole, dried until the moisture content is met, then hulled. Because the fruit pulp stays intact through drying, naturals carry greater body and more readily develop rich, ripe fruit tones. The method demands dependable weather - generally 27 to 30 days of continuous sunshine. Ethiopia, with its high altitude, dry climate, and scarce water, is a major natural-process origin: cherries are harvested and spread flat on raised net beds, kept off the ground away from insects, dust, and bacteria, and turned regularly for even drying.

FrontStreet Yirgacheffe Natural Red Cherry: from the famous Yirgacheffe region, using only fully ripe, all-red cherries dried on raised beds. After a medium-light roast it keeps its elegant florals and bright acidity while adding distinct tropical fruit flavors, a full fermentation character, and rich sweetness.

FrontStreet Natural Guji (Hua Kui): from Ethiopia's Sidamo zone, where superb high-altitude growing conditions and fertile soils give the beans their delicate aromatics. A medium-light roast brings light fermentation notes, florals, citrus, and mango in a fuller, more complex cup, with honey sweetness, a cocoa undertone touched with spice, a thick body, and a long finish.

FrontStreet 2013 Natural Yunnan: grown on FrontStreet's own estate from Typica. Yunnan has only dry and rainy seasons, and the cherries ripen in the sunnier months, so the coffee is sun-dried. Long exposure to sunlight accentuates the natural nutty tones while keeping sweet-tart balance - a touch sweeter than a typical washed coffee - with berry-like acidity, hints of dried apricot and brown sugar, and a slight tea feel.

FrontStreet Brazil Fazenda Rainha (Queen Estate): instead of the semi-washed method common across Brazil, this estate dries whole cherries on drying racks, turning them constantly so every cherry meets the sun, then finishes with mechanical drying to the target moisture. The stable, low-moisture beans keep well, and brewed by pour-over, French press, or drip bag they show the fresh sweetness of sugarcane juice, black tea, smooth fruit sweetness, distinct nutty notes, gentle balanced acidity, clean and mild bitterness, and rich chocolate aroma in a bright, silky cup.