Guatemala El Platanillo Estate Introduction Guatemala Coffee Flavor Characteristics

Guatemala Coffee: Rich Heritage and Excellence

For the past century, coffee has fueled Guatemala's economy. Today there are an estimated 125,000 coffee producers in the country, making coffee Guatemala's primary export commodity and accounting for 40% of its agricultural export income. Coffee cultivation is widespread throughout Guatemala, with beans grown in nearly every region. Of the country's 22 provinces, as many as 20 grow coffee, and 98% of it is grown under shade trees.

These plantations are almost exclusively dominated by Arabica, mostly processed using the washed method. The main varieties include Bourbon, Maragogype, Tipica, Caturra, Catuaí, Pache, and Pacamara. Guatemala's high altitude, 300 different microclimates, stable rainfall, and fertile, mineral-rich soil combine to create ideal conditions for coffee — the most favorable in Central America.

Guatemala's Eight Coffee Regions

Since the early 1990s, Anacafé has classified Guatemala's coffee production into eight distinct regions for Strictly Hard Bean (SHB) cultivation, based on coffee characteristics, growing climate, soil quality, and altitude: the Acatenango valley, Antigua, Atitlán, the Cobán rainforest, the Fraijanes plateau, Huehuetenango, Nuevo Oriente, and the San Marcos volcanic region.

The main harvest runs from December each year to March of the following year; higher-altitude regions such as Huehuetenango may see harvest periods extending into April. Once the early harvest is processed, shipments typically go out between April and July.

El Platanillo Estate: Premium Maragogype Excellence

El Platanillo Estate sits on the slopes of the Tacana and Tajumulco volcanoes, at altitudes ranging from 1,060 to 1,460 meters. In 1976, Samuel Coto Escobar bought the farm, which is now run by his children. El Platanillo Estate specializes exclusively in cultivating and producing Maragogype coffee beans, commonly known as "Elephant Beans."

Maragogype is considered one of the so-called "heirloom" varieties — older tree types cultivated specifically for their distinctive flavor. A Maragogype tree may produce less than one kilogram of green beans a year, while the newer high-yield hybrids of recent years can easily produce three times that. The Maragogype from Guatemala's El Platanillo Estate shows excellent, consistent quality season after season, giving drinkers a chance to explore and discover new favorite flavors.

Brewing Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee suggests these brewing parameters:

• Pour-over: V60 dripper with Fuji R440 grind at 3.5, water temperature around 90°C
• French Press: recommended grind setting of 4, water temperature 90°C
• Siphon: recommended grind setting of 4, water temperature between 90°C-91°C
• AeroPress: recommended grind setting of 3.5, water temperature 90°C

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Washed processing is a traditional way of handling coffee fruit with water. The usual steps are flotation, removal of the pulp, a soaking fermentation that removes the mucilage, washing or a further soak, drying, and finally hulling to reveal the beans. Because washed beans spend a long time in water, chemical changes take place inside them and the monosaccharides — fructose and glucose — are largely consumed, which lowers the coffee's sugar content while increasing various organic acids. As a result, washed coffee tends to keep more of the bean's own aroma while showing bright fruit acidity and a clean, fresh character.

FrontStreet's Yirgacheffe Gudingding cooperative coffee is a fine example. Many people know Yirgacheffe, but not that local farmers produce so little that they send their cherries to a cooperative for centralized processing and sale; FrontStreet's Gudingding is an excellent processing team from Gudingding village with skilled methods, discovered and made famous for the especially refined, clean flavor it produces. Because the washed process is used, FrontStreet's Gudingding shows jasmine florals and bright citrus acidity to the fullest, and after a medium-light roast it gives off green tea and honey notes. It suits pour-over, cold brew, and espresso alike. When it comes to washed processing, FrontStreet's Kenya Small Tomato is one of the best-known representatives, since Kenya excels at double washed processing: the washing step is repeated, with flotation and soaking, scrubbing residual mucilage off the bean surface, soaking again, then drying, hulling, and storing. The repeated rinsing and soaking present the juice character to the extreme, with rich aromas of cherry tomato, smoked plum, snow pear, black plum, and yellow sugar, and a sweet-tart, juicy body that many coffee enthusiasts adore.

Washed processing is also inseparable from Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1. Jamaica, one of the world's best-known coffee origins, suffers from limited sunshine: its island climate gives it shorter daylight hours than other regions, so to reduce the risk of beans spoiling, washed processing was developed. The key difference from natural processing is that the skin, pulp, and mucilage are removed before drying, cutting the moisture wrapped around the bean and shortening drying time; the beans come out translucent with a low defect rate. Washed processing is what guarantees Blue Mountain's rich aroma and, in the cup, the pure notes of hazelnut, cream, chocolate, and caramel, with a balanced body in which no single taste dominates or falls short.