Single Origin Coffee Bean Recommendations | Guatemala Coffee | New Oriente Region -- Wine Fragrance Legacy

New Oriente Region — Coffee with a Wine-Like Aroma

Guatemala Oriente Highland SHB EP NATURAL

Specifications

Grade: SHB EP

Varieties

Bourbon, Caturra

Region

New Oriente

Altitude

1,300–1,700 m

Harvest Period

December–March

Processing

Wine-like natural processing

Flavor Notes

Citrus, dark chocolate, plum, wine, pineapple

Product Introduction

This lot comes from one of Guatemala's eight certified regions — and the easternmost of them: the New Oriente.

Guatemala's Eight Major Producing Regions

★ Antigua Classic

★ Traditional Atitlan

★ Rainforest Coban

★ New Oriente

★ Volcanic San Marcos

★ Highland Huehue

★ Fraijanes Plateau

★ Acatenango

Most of the coffee in New Oriente is grown and harvested by small independent farmers. The region has a tropical climate and sits on land that was once volcanic; proximity to those rock formations has left the soil nutritious and mineral-rich. The ecosystem here is lively — vibrant flowers and a diverse bird population — and rainfall is generous, giving the climate real kinship with the Coban rainforest. The result is coffee with excellent acidity and aroma.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

The wine-like note in this lot comes from natural (sun-dried) processing — the oldest and still the most widespread way to prepare coffee. In a natural, ripe cherries are dried whole in the sun until the moisture content hits target, then hulled. Because the fruit stays on the seed through the entire dry, the cup gains body and takes on rich, mature fruit tones. The demands are steep, though: it takes continuous clear weather, and drying typically stretches 27–30 days.

If this style hooks you, FrontStreet Coffee's natural-processed shelf is a tour worth taking. The Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Natural Red Cherry selects only fully ripe, all-red cherries, spread on raised beds to keep them off the ground and away from insects, dust, and bacteria, with regular turning so they dry evenly — after a medium-light roast you get elegant florals and bright acidity layered with pronounced tropical fruit, a full fermentation sweetness. FrontStreet's Natural Guji Hana (Huakui), from Sidamo's signature natural tradition, is even more opulent: light fermentation florals, citrus, mango, honeyed sweetness, cocoa with a whisper of spice, and a thick body with a long finish. FrontStreet's 2013 Natural Yunnan Typica shows how the method travels — Yunnan's dry season coincides with harvest, so the cherries sun-dry into a cup with balanced sweet-tart acidity, a touch more sweetness than a washed lot, berry-like acidity, dried apricot, brown sugar, and a delicate tea note.

For the natural method's steadier cousin, FrontStreet's Brazil Fazenda Rainha dries whole cherries on raised beds — turned constantly so every cherry sees sun — then finishes them mechanically to the target moisture. The result is a stable, low-moisture bean that keeps beautifully, pouring out fresh sugarcane sweetness, black tea, smooth fruit sweetness, clear nutty character, gentle balanced acidity, and rich chocolate aroma. And for the modern edge, FrontStreet's Colombia Pink Bourbon (Xijia) uses double anaerobic natural: whole cherries are sealed in tanks flushed with carbon dioxide to force out the oxygen, slowing sugar breakdown and pH decline in the mucilage for higher sweetness and more complex flavor before the beds — a cup of passion fruit, apricot, dried fruit, grape, and an almond-like finish.