Guatemala La Florida Estate Pour-Over Coffee Parameters Recommendations_La Florida Estate Information Story

Guatemala Coffee Estate — La Florida

Introduction to La Florida Estate

The Las Minas mountain range in eastern Guatemala holds countless treasures. Beyond its natural forest ecosystems and wildlife, it contains rich veins of gold and jade, which made the treasures of Las Minas famous throughout Central America. To protect this mountain forest, the range has now been designated a Guatemalan national park.

Early on, the high altitude and latitude of the Las Minas range kept the area cold and made local coffee cultivation impossible. With the effects of global warming, however, high-altitude specialty coffee has gradually emerged in the Las Minas area. La Florida Estate is one of the earliest estates there to start cultivating high-altitude specialty coffee, and after making its mark in Guatemala's Cup of Excellence (C.O.E.), this young micro-origin began to secure its place in the competition.

La Florida sits on the southern slopes of the Las Minas range, where the volcanic island chain of southern Guatemala blocks moisture from the Pacific Ocean and the northern mountains block moisture from the Atlantic, creating a very dry microclimate. La Florida has its own advantages, though: a babbling mountain spring runs through the estate, providing abundant water year-round for irrigation and for excellent washed processing.

Through the efforts of four generations of the family, La Florida now has exceptional experience and wisdom in variety selection, cultivation, harvesting and processing. The estate also takes environmental protection seriously: solar-powered drying facilities, water recycling and vermicomposting beds that build soil fertility through natural composting. It is equally committed to the quality of life of its workers, providing medical support, education, housing and related social welfare services.

Guatemala Coffee Profile

Estate: La Florida Estate

Awards: 2016 C.O.E. 5th Place Award-winning Estate

Region: Las Minas Mountain Range

Varieties: Caturra, Catimor, Sarchimor

Processing: Washed Process

Soil: Clay Soil

Shade Trees: Inga

Annual Rainfall: 2,000–3,000 mm

Altitude: 1,500 m

Flavor: Lemon tea, honey plum, floral notes, bright grapefruit acidity, roasted almonds, truffle chocolate, excellent balance

How to Brew Guatemala Coffee [La Florida Estate] Well

FrontStreet Coffee Hand Brew Reference

Weigh 15 g of La Florida Estate coffee and grind it medium; the particles should be slightly coarser than table salt. We use a BG grinder setting of 5R (60% standard sieve pass rate), water at 89°C and a V60 dripper. Pour the hot water in clockwise circles centered on the middle of the dripper, starting the timer as the brew begins. At 15 seconds, brew the coffee to 30 g and stop pouring. When the time reaches 1 minute, pour for the second time, again in clockwise circles centered on the middle of the dripper. The stream should not hit where the coffee grounds meet the filter paper, or it will cause channeling. Leave a ring at the outermost layer of grounds as you pour, then work circle by circle toward the center. At 2 minutes 20 seconds, brew the coffee to 220 g, and the brew is complete.

Japanese-style Iced Hand Brew [La Florida Estate]

FrontStreet Coffee Iced Hand Brew Reference

Guatemala La Florida Estate, light-medium roast, BG grinder setting 5M (67% standard sieve pass rate). Use 20 g of coffee, 150 g of ice cubes and 150 g of hot water. The water temperature should be 1°C higher than the normal hand-brew recommendation of 90°C. Normal grinding uses a small Fuji grinder at 3.5, while iced hand brew should be half a setting finer, so a small Fuji at 3.

Bloom with 40 g of water for 30 seconds. Segmented pouring: a first segment of 60 g of water and a second segment of 40 g. Use a relatively fine but high water column, with a forceful stirring impact to make the grounds tumble fully, but be careful not to let the liquid level rise too high or hit the filter paper at the edges. The entire extraction should take approximately two and a half minutes, similar to the normal extraction time for 20 g of coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

The two brews above show how much a coffee's character depends on how it is poured, and the V60 rewards that attention. This dripper was designed by Hario, the Tokyo glassmaker founded in 1921, and redesigned in 2004 into the shape sold from the following year — a 60° cone with a single large hole. Water is forced to the center before it drops through, which lengthens the contact between water and grounds, while the wide opening leaves the flow almost entirely in the pourer's hands. In practice that means a fast, controllable extraction that gives a coffee a fuller, more three-dimensional aroma and livelier acidity. It is why FrontStreet Coffee's floral and fruit-forward beans — the classic Yirgacheffe character of Banko Gotiti, the tropical fruit of Huakui, the Geisha-style Strawberry Candy and the raisin notes of Mozart — work so well through a V60, while the rounder, heavier coffees of the older generation, such as Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1 and the PWN Golden Mandheling, were traditionally brewed with a siphon or a flannel filter to build body.

If you want a shortlist to brew this way, FrontStreet Coffee's light-roast side includes the washed Yirgacheffe Banko Gotiti (citrus, berry and florals over a green-tea finish), the Ethiopia Huakui (a tropical fruit bomb with very low bitterness and a juicy texture), the Panama Esmeralda Red Label Gesha (elegant jasmine, citrus, bergamot and black tea) and the Kenya Cherry Tomato (bright cherry tomato and smoked plum acidity). If you would rather drink something rich and un-acidic, the medium-dark side is just as clear: the PWN Indonesian Golden Mandheling with its herbal and dark chocolate depth, the Brazil Queen's Estate with nuts, cocoa and caramel, Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1 with its famous balance, the 2013 Yunnan sun-dried Typica with citrus, caramel and brown sugar, and the Papua New Guinea Bird of Paradise, a Typica grown at 1,600–1,800 m on volcanic soil and often called a "little Blue Mountain."

Brew the La Florida as the parameters above suggest — a medium grind, 89°C and a V60 — and adjust from there: grind finer for more sweetness and body, or coarser if the cup turns harsh, and keep the pour gentle around the center so the water never runs down the paper at the edges. The same beans take beautifully to the iced method described above, where a slightly finer grind and a higher, more forceful column pull the fruit forward before it dilutes over the ice.