2016 COE 5th Place Guatemala | Las Minas Treasure Mountain Range Finca Pia 100% Washed Caturra

2016 COE Fifth Place Guatemala | Las Minas Bella Vista Estate 100% Washed Caturra Flavor Profile

The Las Minas mountain range lies in eastern Guatemala and holds countless treasures—natural forest ecosystems and wildlife, but also rich veins of gold and jade, which made the riches of the Las Minas mountains famous throughout Central America. To protect this mountain forest, the range has now been designated a Guatemala National Park.

In early times the high altitude and latitude gave the Las Minas mountains a cold climate that made the region unsuitable for coffee. With the effects of global warming, however, high-altitude specialty coffee cultivation gradually emerged in the Las Minas area, and the most famous name there is undoubtedly Bella Vista Estate. "Bella" means "beautiful" in Spanish, an apt description of this lovely estate. Bella Vista is one of the earliest estates in the Las Minas area to begin cultivating high-altitude specialty coffee, and after gaining prominence in the Guatemala Cup of Excellence (C.O.E), it secured a place for this emerging micro-region in the competition.

Sitting on the southern slope of the Las Minas range, the estate is shielded from Pacific moisture by Guatemala's southern volcanic island chain and from Atlantic moisture by the northern mountains, creating a very dry microclimate. Bella Vista, however, enjoys a unique advantage: a babbling mountain spring within the estate supplies abundant water year-round for irrigation and for excellent washed processing.

Through four generations of the owning family's efforts, Bella Vista Estate now holds outstanding experience and wisdom in variety selection, cultivation, harvesting, and processing. The estate also places great importance on environmental conservation—solar-powered drying facilities, water recycling, and worm hatcheries that build soil fertility through natural composting—and is committed to improving the quality of life for its workers, providing medical assistance, education, housing, and related social welfare services.

Guatemalan estates once mixed Bourbon, Caturra, and Catuai to achieve stable yields and take advantage of how the three varieties complement one another. After multiple cuppings, though, we found that 100% single-variety Caturra lots sometimes show more outstanding acidity, fullness, three-dimensionality, and intensity of fruit flavor.

Coffee Specifications

Region: Las Minas mountain range

Altitude: 1500 m

Processing Method: Washed processing method

Variety: 100% Caturra

Award Record: 2016 C.O.E Fifth Place award-winning estate

Harvest Season: 2017-2018

Screen Size: Screen size 17-18 - 70.4%, screen size 19 - 12%

Moisture Content: 11.4%

Soil: Clay soil

Shade Trees: Inga

Annual Rainfall: 2000-3000mm

Flavor Description: Mint, bergamot, and combined fresh berries and peach with black tea-like flavors

FrontStreet Coffee's Recommended Brewing Method:

Dripper: Hario V60

Water Temperature: 90°C

Grind Size: Fuji Royal R-440 grind size 3.5

Brewing Technique: Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, 15g of grounds, first pour 25g of water and bloom for 25s, second pour to 120g and stop, wait until the water level in the coffee bed drops to halfway before continuing to pour, then slowly pour until you reach 225g total water. Extraction time around 2:00.

Analysis: The three-stage pour clearly defines the front, middle, and back-end flavors of the coffee. Because the V60 has many ribs and drains quickly, stopping the flow helps extend the extraction time.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Washed processing is the traditional method of using water to deal with coffee fruit. The steps are generally flotation, depulping, a soaking ferment to remove the mucilage, washing or further soaking, and drying followed by hulling to give the green beans we want. Because washed beans spend so long in water, chemical changes take place inside them and much of the monosaccharide—fructose and glucose—is consumed, lowering the coffee's sugar content while raising various organic acids. The upshot is that washed coffee tends to keep more of the bean's own aroma while showing bright fruit acidity and a clean, fresh character.

FrontStreet Yirgacheffe Gudingding is a fine example. In Yirgacheffe, smallholder yields are low, so farmers bring their cherries to a cooperative for shared processing and sale; Gudingding is an excellent processing team from Gudingding village with practiced skill, and its exceptionally refined, clean coffee brought it to prominence. Because it is washed, FrontStreet Gudingding shows jasmine and bright citrus acidity to the fullest, and after a medium-light roast it gives off green tea and honey notes, suiting pour-over, cold brew, espresso, and more. When it comes to washing, FrontStreet Kenya Tomato is one of the best-known names, since Kenya excels at double-washed green beans—repeating the washing step, soaking the beans, rinsing off residual mucilage, soaking again, then drying and hulling. All that rinsing and soaking renders the juice character at its finest, for a cup of cherry tomato, smoked plum, snow pear, black plum, and yellow sugar with sweet, juicy acidity that many coffee lovers prize. And FrontStreet Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1 owes its clarity to the method too: washed processing removes the skin, pulp, and mucilage before drying, reducing the moisture around the bean, shortening drying time, and producing bright, low-defect beans. It keeps Blue Mountain's aroma rich and pure, pouring out clean hazelnut, cream, chocolate, and caramel—balanced, with no single note dominating or missing.