How Much Does a Cup of Guatemala Antigua La Folie Coffee Cost? Recommended Most Famous Guatemala Coffee Beans

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Guatemala Antigua

Guatemala Antigua Coffee Beans - La Folie
(Guatemala La Minita La Folie)

Region: Antigua Volcanic Zone

Estate: La Minita

Export: La Minita Group's brand "La Folie"

Varieties: Caturra, Catuai, Bourbon

Altitude: 1200 to 1600 meters

Grade: European Standard Washed Strictly Hard Bean (SHB)

Processing Method: Traditional washed processing

Harvest Period: N/A

Certification: N/A

Flavor Profile: La Folie possesses a very pleasant and elegant floral aromatic profile, with soft acidity and a chocolate-like aftertaste. The overall mouthfeel is clean and bright. It's sweet and smooth, with well-defined fruit acidity and fruity-floral notes.

01 | Introduction to Guatemala Coffee Growing Regions

Guatemala is located in the Central American isthmus, with many mountains and plateaus formed by volcanoes, producing high-quality Central American high-altitude strictly hard coffee beans, ranking as the world's 9th largest coffee bean producer. Guatemala's main coffee growing regions include seven major areas: Antigua, Huehuetenango, Atitlan, Coban, Fraijanes, Acatenango, and others. Coffee beans from Guatemala's seven coffee-growing regions are all Arabica, located in subtropical highland terrain with abundant and stable rainfall, and fertile volcanic ash soil, providing extremely suitable natural environmental conditions for coffee cultivation throughout the country.

This valley is surrounded by three volcanoes: Agua, Fuego, and Acatenango. Volcanic ash from eruptions enriches the soil in the Antigua region with minerals. Volcanic pumice retains moisture, overcoming the drawback of low rainfall in the Antigua region; dense tree shade prevents occasional frost damage.

Characteristics of Guatemala Coffee Beans: Rich wet aroma, good balance, high sweetness, and delicate body.

Each region possesses unique flavors, with excellent acidity and fruity smoothness, ranking among the world's top coffees, suitable for single-origin consumption. The Antigua region is located in the area dominated by the Madre plateau within the topographically mountainous range that crosses Guatemala. Due to these natural conditions, Antigua has become Guatemala's most famous growing region.

Introduction to Antigua Region

La Folie is a brand bean under La Minita Company, with growing region located in Antigua City, Guatemala - a highland surrounded by active volcanoes at an altitude of 1850 meters, making it the country's most awarded and famous region.

Antigua has low rainfall in summer, and occasionally experiences frost in winter due to extreme cold, which actually isn't suitable for coffee tree growth. However, fortunately located in an active volcanic zone, the volcanic pumice that falls into the soil after eruptions, when cooled, has many fine pores that are very effective at retaining moisture. Additionally, the large number of shade trees planted in the estate protects coffee trees from cold damage in winter. These factors that overcome adverse conditions, combined with large day-night temperature differences, create Antigua's unique microclimate, giving the coffee beans here a subtle smoky flavor and rich fruit aroma.

La Minita is famous for excellent cultivation, processing techniques, and extremely strict quality control. They commission Las Pastores, the largest wet processing mill in the local Antigua area, to process the green beans according to these standards, and name the coffee La Folie. In addition to preserving the original regional flavors, the dry aroma carries rich floral and tea notes. After tasting, lime acidity and berry flavors emerge, transitioning to a honey-like aftertaste. Excellent cleanliness and rich layered complexity are the characteristics of this La Folie.

02 | Guatemala Coffee Bean Processing Methods

Full Washed

1. Removing Floaters

Coffee beans are poured into large water tanks. Underdeveloped inferior beans will float to the surface, while mature, full fruits will sink to the bottom. At this point, the floating beans on the surface are scooped out, completing the step of removing floaters.

2. Removing Skin and Pulp

Through a pulping machine, the outer skin and pulp of the coffee fruit are removed. (This leaves mucilage, parchment, and silver skin).

3. Fermentation

The purpose of this step is to use biological processing methods to remove the mucilage. Coffee fruits processed through the pulping machine are placed in fermentation tanks for 16-36 hours, where fermentation bacteria dissolve the mucilage.

4. Washing

After completing fermentation and removing mucilage, fermentation bacteria and impurities remain on the coffee beans, so they are washed again. To ensure thorough cleaning, this step consumes large amounts of fresh water.

5. Drying and Removing Parchment, Silver Skin

The coffee fruits are dried until moisture content drops to 10-14%. Then, a hulling machine is used to remove the remaining parchment and silver skin, completing the processing.

03 | Guatemala Coffee Bean Green Bean Analysis

Guatemala Coffee Bean La Folie - Washed Processing Method

The varieties of Guatemala coffee bean La Folie are mainly Bourbon, Caturra, and Catuai. Bourbon and Typica are both ancient, high-quality coffee varieties. The bean appearance is relatively smaller and more rounded compared to Typica.

Caturra has lemon or citrus acidity in flavor, but doesn't match Typica and Bourbon in sweetness. This is because Caturra's sweetness depends on the frequency and dosage of fertilization by growers. It has high yield potential, but maintaining this potential requires continuous fertilization and pruning, resulting in short trees with many branches. Although yield increases, because the harvest period takes 2 years and care costs are high, production remains somewhat limited.

04 | Guatemala Coffee Bean Roasting Analysis

This Guatemala coffee bean has a round green bean appearance with greenish-yellow color, good uniformity, and medium moisture content. The roasting target is medium roast -一方面 to preserve bright acidity and showcase floral and fruit aromas, while enhancing richness and balance.

In the first batch of roasting, the dropping temperature was relatively high, with an entry temperature of 200°C and relatively high heat. During the roasting process, it was discovered that this bean has high altitude and harder bean density. To preserve more acidic aroma, a technique of raising temperature development and advancing first crack was employed. Heat was reduced at the yellowing point, after dehydration completion, and before first crack respectively, to avoid surface scorching. The beans were dropped 1 minute 50 seconds after first crack ended, shortening the caramelization reaction time to preserve more floral and fruity aftertaste.

Roasting Machine: Yangjia 600g Semi-direct Heat

Heat to 200°C, damper at 3. After 30 seconds, reduce heat to 160°C, damper unchanged. Return to temperature at 1'36", maintain heat. At 4'50", bean surface turns yellow, grassy aroma completely disappears, entering dehydration stage. Reduce heat to 140°C, adjust damper to 4.

At 4'50", dehydration completed, heat reduced to 140°C. At 8'32", bean surface shows ugly wrinkles and black spots, toast aroma clearly transforms to coffee aroma, definable as prelude to first crack. At this point, listen carefully for the sound of first crack. At 8'37", first crack begins, reduce heat to 80°C, damper fully open at 5 (heat adjustment must be very careful, not so low as to eliminate cracking sounds). After first crack, develop for 1'50", drop at 195.3°C.

This Guatemala coffee bean La Folie washed has more prominent citrus acidity, with juicy fruit notes, rich floral aroma, pleasant sweetness, medium body, with slight caramel and smoky flavors in the finish. Overall, it's clean, mild, with smooth texture and balanced, lively, and complex layered flavors.

05 | Guatemala Coffee Bean Brewing Analysis

Recommended Brewing Method: Pour-over

Grind Size: (Japan Fuji R440) 3.5

V60 Dripper: 15g coffee, water temperature 91°C

Water-to-Coffee Ratio: 1:15

Pouring Method: Small water flow to 125g, pause, then slowly pour to 225g

Total Time: Approximately 1 minute 50 seconds

BG Grind: 4R

Sweetness: ☆☆☆

Acidity: ☆☆☆

Bitterness: ☆

Other Drip Extraction Suggestions: French press, recommended grind 3.5-4, water temperature 91°C

AeroPress, recommended grind 2.5, water temperature 90°C

Guatemala Coffee Bean Brand Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee's roasted Guatemala coffee beans have full guarantees in both brand and quality. More importantly, they offer extremely high cost performance - a 227-gram package costs only 118 yuan. Calculating at 15g per cup of coffee, one package can make 15 cups, with each cup costing only about 8 yuan. Compared to café prices that often cost dozens of yuan per cup, this is truly a conscientious recommendation.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473