Introduction to Orange Honey Processing at Guatemala Santa Felisa Estate - Is Acatenango Coffee Delicious?

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About the Guatemala Coffee Estate - Santa Felisa Estate

In 1904, Santa Felisa Estate was founded by Mr. Trinidad E. Cruz in Guatemala's famous region - Acatenango. To date, the estate has entered its fourth generation of operation, managed by siblings Antonio and Anabella.

The Geisha 2722 variety began cultivation in 2006, with trees imported from CATIE (Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center) botanical estate. Geisha 2722 is cultivated based on an agroforestry system, receiving three layers of shade treatment including more than ten local tree species.

Santa Felisa Estate's Geisha 2722 won eighth place in the 2017 COE (Cup of Excellence). Meanwhile, the El Paraxaj Estate, operated by the same farm owner, also achieved notable rankings.

Experimental Testing

More than 30 coffee varieties have undergone experimental testing at the estate. Currently cultivated varieties include Red Typica, Red Bourbon, Red Pache, Geisha, Red Caturra, Red Pacamara, and Yellow Catuai. Additionally, the estate continuously innovates and improves post-processing methods to meet market demands. To date, the estate uses more than seven types of green bean processing methods, with market favorites including washed, Kenya-style K72 washed, Orange Honey, and natural processing. Through different processing methods, more diverse flavor profiles are created.

Orange Honey Processing

Orange honey processing creates mild acidity, complete body thickness, and delicate, elegant sweetness.

Orange honey processing is a derivative of traditional honey processing. Its initial processing resembles washed coffee - picking ripe cherries and sorting them - but retains some mucilage when removing the outer skin, then placing them on well-ventilated drying beds to receive sunlight.

This honey processing method makes the coffee taste more intense and rich. To ensure coffee beans reach consistent high standards, estate workers adopt a fully natural hulling procedure: first soaking overnight in water, then hulling and sun-drying.

How to Brew Guatemala Coffee [Santa Felisa Estate Honey Process] Perfectly?

FrontStreet Coffee's pour-over reference: Weigh 15g of [Santa Felisa Estate Honey Process] coffee powder, pour into a grinder for medium grinding. The ground particles should be slightly coarser than table salt - we use BG grinder setting 5R (60% standard sieve pass rate), water temperature 89°C, extracted with a V60 dripper.

Pour hot water from the pour-over kettle in clockwise circles centered on the middle of the filter. Start timing when brewing begins, reaching 30g in 15 seconds, then stop pouring. When the time reaches 1 minute, pour the second time. The second pour follows the same pattern - clockwise circles centered on the middle of the filter, with water flow avoiding the area where coffee powder meets the filter paper to prevent channeling effects.

Leave a circle when pouring to the outermost layer of coffee powder, then continue pouring circle by circle toward the center. At 2 minutes and 20 seconds, the coffee should reach 220g, completing the brewing process.

Japanese Style Ice Pour-Over [Santa Felisa Estate Honey Process]

FrontStreet Coffee's ice pour-over [Santa Felisa Estate Honey Process] reference:

Guatemala coffee [Santa Felisa Estate Honey Process], light to medium roast, BG grinder setting 5M (67% standard sieve pass rate)

20g coffee powder, 150g ice cubes, 150g hot water. Water temperature should be 1°C higher than the normal pour-over recommendation of 90°C. Normal grinding uses Fuji setting 3.5, while ice pour-over uses slightly finer - Fuji setting 3.

Bloom with 40g water for 30 seconds.

Segmented pouring: first segment 60g water, second segment 40g water. Use a relatively fine but high water column, stirring forcefully to ensure the coffee powder rolls fully. However, be careful that the liquid level doesn't get too high and avoid hitting the edge filter paper.

The entire extraction time is approximately 2.5 minutes (similar to the normal extraction time for 20g of powder).

Important Notice :

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