What are the Flavor Characteristics of La Flor Brand Washed Coffee Beans from Guatemala's Bella Carmona Estate by the Zelaya Family?

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Guatemala La Flor Bella Carmona Estate Zelaya Family Washed Bean Flavor?

The Naming of La Flor Coffee:

@Type 1: Provided with technical support from Costa Rica's Laminita Estate and named in Spanish as La Flor (full name: Antigua La Flor del Café), with an aroma profile featuring floral and caramel notes.

@Type 2: Produced by Pastores Estate and named in French as La Follie (full name: Antigua La Folie Bella Carmona), with an aroma profile featuring floral and fruit notes.

Guatemala Coffee Overview

Guatemala is located in the Central American isthmus, with many high mountains and plateaus formed by volcanoes, producing high-quality Central American high-altitude extremely 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, San Marcos, and Acatenango. All coffee beans produced in Guatemala's seven major coffee regions are Arabica, located in highland terrain under subtropical climate conditions, with abundant and stable rainfall, and fertile volcanic ash soil, providing extremely suitable natural environmental conditions for coffee cultivation throughout Guatemala. Each region has unique flavors, with excellent acidity and fruity aromas, smooth and palatable, belonging to one of the world's top-grade coffees, suitable for single-origin consumption. The Antigua region is located in the entire area centered on the Madre Plateau in the Topographically mountains that cross Guatemala. Due to the natural conditions of this region, Antigua has become Guatemala's most famous growing region.

Personal Experience with La Flor

Two years ago, I imported a batch of La Flor, and it was really extremely acidic whether light/medium/dark roasted. Since that batch, I swore I would never touch La Flor again. But then I heard about the great reputation and evaluation of Bella Carmona, and couldn't resist getting some to "poison" myself, to see who would win in the final battle between La Flor and La Follie. La Follie was once Starbucks' 2004 Coffee of the Year, emphasizing aroma-focused coffee. Its characteristics when medium-light roasted are fruit tea with elegant floral aromas, refreshing taste, and bright coffee cherry fruit acidity. Important information - batches of La Flor from Guatemala's growing regions are quite large, and different batches not only have very different flavors but also vary significantly. Only cupping can determine which batch is good. Not everything labeled "La Flor" is delicious - it's really full of landmines, depending on who is unlucky enough to step on one.

Zelaya Family Legacy

For four centuries, the Zelaya family, owners of the estate, has been renowned for producing high-quality Guatemalan coffee. Bella Carmona is their brand, which has won many awards since receiving the first prize at the Guatemala National Expo in 1935. The Zelaya family considers maintaining excellent coffee quality as their most important commitment. Quality control begins with the selection of cultivated varieties and continues with strict supervision throughout the raw bean processing process to ensure only the best products are exported. The Zelaya family is very concerned about ecological sustainability, and coffee production is conducted considering sustainable operations and environmentally friendly ecosystems. Not only is all coffee shade-grown, but they also focus on developing environmentally friendly washing facilities; wastewater used during the washing process is directed to sedimentation tanks, allowing waste from the processing process to decompose and serve as fertilizer. Ripe red coffee cherries are harvested and transported to washing stations or processing plants. The coffee fruit has its outer skin removed, ferments in washing tanks, and after being cleaned, it is sent to rack net beds for sun drying. When the moisture content of the parchment beans reaches the appropriate ratio, they are carefully bagged and sent to warehouses for continued aging until reaching the optimal flavor balance point, at which time they are hulled and prepared for export. The hulling processing plant is located within the estate to completely monitor the entire processing process and ensure the best quality.

Terroir Characteristics

The combination of volcanic soil, balanced rainfall and sun exposure, and traditional farming methods produces coffee with rich flavors, thick texture, crisp acidity, and excellent balance.

Guatemala has preserved more traditional Typica and Bourbon varieties of Arabica coffee trees than many other coffee-producing Latin American countries, contributing significantly to the flavor of Guatemalan Antigua coffee.

Flavor Profile

The aroma is full, with floral and sweet fragrances. Upon entry, there's rich sweet and sour sensation with delicate layers. The acidity is fine and varied, with excellent sweetness and a strong aftertaste, featuring chocolate-nut sweetness and fruit acidity. Delicate yet diverse taste changes, with smooth texture, medium richness and thickness.

Dry Aroma:

Floral, alpine fir fragrance, tea aroma, berries, cream, sweet lemon

Wet Aroma:

Caramel, sweet fragrance, floral, hazelnut chocolate, tea aroma, almond, honey

Slurping:

Good cleanliness, cream-like oils, tea aroma, sweet lime, delicate sweet and sour, hazelnut chocolate, fine and varied acidity, obvious floral notes, delicate sweet and sour changes, pleasant sweet chocolate and berry acidity in the aftertaste. Floral, caramel, vanilla, restrained acidity, nut-cocoa tones

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation:

Brewing Parameters:

• Dripper: Hario V60
• Water Temperature: 90°C
• Grind Size: Fuji Royal grinder setting 3.5

Brewing Method:

Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, 15g coffee grounds. First infusion with 25g water, bloom for 25s. Second infusion to 120g water, pause and wait until the water level in the coffee bed drops to halfway, then continue slow infusion until reaching 225g water total. Extraction time approximately 2:00.

Analysis:

Using a three-stage brewing method to clearly distinguish the front, middle, and back flavor profiles of the coffee. Because the V60 has many ribs and drains quickly, pausing during infusion can help extend the extraction time.

Important Notice :

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