Guatemala Huehuetenango's Top Coffee Estates and Varieties_Huehuetenango Coffee PPT

The World's Premier Coffee Estate: Injerto Estate in Huehuetenango

There are over ten thousand coffee estates worldwide, ranging from those producing mass-market beans to high-quality estates and those cultivating rare varieties. Today we introduce a renowned, top-tier estate from Huehuetenango - Injerto Estate.

Estate Introduction

Located in the famous Huehuetenango highlands of Guatemala, Injerto Estate has been farmed by the Aguirre family since 1900. The name "Injerto" comes from a local fruit. The estate places special emphasis on environmental protection and organic cultivation, applying strict quality control to ensure the quality of its green coffee. Through the Aguirre family's efforts, Injerto Estate has earned Rainforest Alliance certification and has been a consistent winner in numerous international coffee competitions since 2002.

Injerto Estate is one of the top estates in Guatemala - if it claimed second place, few would dare to claim first. It has won many world-class competition awards, which built its current reputation. In recent seasons the estate owner pushed its standing even higher. Like Panama's famous Finca Lerida, Injerto Estate holds global bidding competitions, and the competition lots it offers are exceptional. The first batch of its "Mocha variety" in 2012 set a world record, auctioned at an astronomical $500.5 per pound, making it a truly deserved star estate.

For this competition, Injerto Estate launched its "Best of Injerto" series, carefully selecting small batches and the finest-quality varieties from within the estate. Experienced farmers pick ripe cherries by hand, and cuppers then screen out batches that fail to meet quality standards. Under such strict selection, the Pacamara variety from Injerto Estate accounts for only about 8% of total production.

About the Pacamara Variety

The Pacamara variety gained worldwide fame through the Cup of Excellence (COE) in 2004, frequently winning championships within 2-3 years. Pacamara produced by Guatemala's Injerto Estate reached $80.2 per pound for green beans in 2008.

Origin of the variety and its name: it is a hybrid derived from the elephant bean Maragogype and Pacas. Taking the first 4 letters from Maragogype and Pacas gives Pacamara. It is an excellent coffee variety developed in El Salvador. The beans are very large, similar to elephant beans at about 21-22 screen size, making it one of the best coffee varieties in Central and South America in recent years. Every country and farm hopes to find the best regions for growing it, much as with Panama's Geisha. Pacamara's characteristics include bright fruit acidity and exceptionally pure, delicate sweetness, although its appearance remains quite similar to its cousin, the elephant bean.

Pacamara is a hybrid of Pacas (a natural mutation of Bourbon discovered in El Salvador in the 1950s) and the giant bean Maragogype (elephant bean).

First cultivated by Salvadoran researchers in 1958, Pacamara is a rare outstanding variety under artificial selection that surpasses its parent varieties. It perfectly inherits the advantages of its parents, combining the excellent flavor of Pacas with the large bean size of Maragogype. The beans are at least 70-80% the size of elephant beans, with 100% reaching screen 17 and above and 90% reaching screen 18 and above. The average bean length is 1.03 cm (compared with 0.8-0.85 cm for regular beans), average width is 0.71 cm (compared with 0.6-0.65 cm for regular beans), and thickness reaches 0.37 cm. The beans are full and round. The variety's most distinctive feature is its lively, complex acidity, sometimes with biscuit aromas, sometimes with fruit flavors, and excellent body and mouthfeel. The best quality comes from El Salvador and Guatemala.

Since 2006, COE has cupped Pacamara from 30 estates, some with truly superstar flavors, such as Honduras' 2006 champion Santa Martha, El Salvador's 2007 third-place Cerro Negro (Black Mountain Estate), Guatemala's regular COE champion El Injerto, and El Salvador's 2008 runner-up Pacamara estate. These are all outstanding Pacamara representatives, but they are all award-winning batches, which makes them very expensive.

Country: Guatemala

Grade: SHB

Estate: Injerto Estate

Roast Level: Medium-Light Roast

Processing Method: Washed

Variety: Pacamara

Batch: Competition Batch Pandora Fatima EI07

Flavor Notes: Chestnut, Plum, Chocolate

Pacamara offers full-bodied, rich and complex flavors. Few coffee varieties have both fruit acidity and distinct sweetness, with diverse notes of drupes, herbal plants, tropical fruits, chocolate and spicy sweetness.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If you enjoy the big, complex cup that Pacamara delivers, FrontStreet Coffee recommends its Panama selection, which offers a comparable depth of flavor. The Boquete Washed Geisha is a single-estate lot grown at 1,600 meters on fertile volcanic ash soil; brewed, it shows the classic Geisha jasmine florals with green tea, honey, citrus and orange. A step up, the Panama Washed Butterfly blends Geisha, Caturra and Catuai from the Baru volcano area of Boquete, giving excellent body, citrus acidity and jasmine aroma, and it works well both as a pour-over and as a cold brew.

For the highest tier, the Esmeralda Red Label Geisha is harvested from a single plot above 1,700 meters and must reach a cupping score of 91, offering a refined orange-blossom and honey expression. The Esmeralda Diamond Mountain, meanwhile, is grown on the Jaramillo and Canas Verdes farms and is known for its rich fruit aroma and sweetness. All of these are washed or meticulously processed lots that reward careful brewing.

FrontStreet Coffee suggests brewing these Panama coffees as a pour-over, which keeps the jasmine, citrus and honey sweetness clean and clearly layered in the cup.