Guatemala Finca Hermosa Natural Typica Brewing Guide_Guatemala Typica Bean Flavor Characteristics

Guatemala Coffee - CoE Award Winning Acatenango Finca Hermosa Natural Typica

Estate Introduction

Since the early 1990s, Guatemala's national coffee association, Anacafé, has been actively classifying and promoting the country's producing regions according to coffee flavor, climate, soil and altitude. The most recently classified of these is Acatenango, near the Fuego volcano. In Acatenango, coffee trees generally grow at high altitudes above 1,800 meters, and the region also benefits from Fuego's eruptions, which leave the coarse, sandy soil rich in minerals. Because of the influence of Atlantic sea breezes, farmers in Acatenango mostly still dry their coffee in the sun rather than in mechanical dryers.

Finca Hermosa is currently managed by a third-generation owner, Max Fernando Perez Rios, who is still quite young. In the Acatenango region, Max's family can be counted among the earliest families to cultivate coffee, and they still own a good deal of land today. In 2010, Max consolidated four plots from his brothers and sisters under a single management and named the property Finca Hermosa. On the estate he has long maintained both wet and dry processing equipment, and he also set up African raised beds to improve consistency during drying. As a third-generation owner, Max takes his own approach to management: throughout the harvest and processing season he can often be seen in the fields and the processing plant alongside his workers, taking part in the work itself to safeguard quality.

Flavor Description

Rich, intense floral notes with citrus acidity, high sweetness, and a long-lasting, smooth finish.

How to Brew Guatemala Coffee [Finca Hermosa Natural Typica] Well?

FrontStreet Coffee Pour-Over Reference

Weigh out 15g of [Finca Hermosa Natural Typica] coffee and grind to a medium consistency. The particles should be slightly coarser than table salt. We use a BG grinder setting of 5R (standard sieve pass rate 60%), water at 89°C, and a V60 dripper for extraction.

Pour the hot water from the kettle in clockwise circles centered on the middle of the dripper. Begin timing the moment you start brewing. Within 15 seconds, build the brew up to 30g, then stop pouring. When the timer reaches 1 minute, begin the second pour, again in clockwise circles centered on the middle of the dripper. Keep the stream off the point where the coffee bed meets the filter paper so you don't create channeling.

Leave a small gap when you reach the outermost edge of the coffee bed, then continue pouring in circles toward the center. At 2 minutes and 20 seconds, the brew should weigh 220g, and the extraction is complete.

Japanese Iced Pour-Over [Finca Hermosa Natural Typica]

FrontStreet Coffee Iced Pour-Over [Finca Hermosa Natural Typica] Reference

Guatemala coffee [Finca Hermosa Natural Typica], light to medium roast, BG grinder setting 5M (standard sieve pass rate 67%).

20g coffee, 150g ice cubes, 150g hot water. The water temperature should be 1°C higher than the normal pour-over recommendation of 89°C, so use 90°C. Normal grinding uses a Fuji 3.5 setting, while iced pour-over uses a slightly finer setting — Fuji 3.

Bloom with 40g of water for 30 seconds.

Segmented pouring: first segment 60g of water, second segment 40g. Use a relatively thin but high water column and stir forcefully so the coffee bed tumbles fully. Be careful not to let the liquid level rise 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 coffee).

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

A natural Typica from Acatenango earns its keep through floral lift and citrus acidity, so it pairs well with a clean washed coffee on the shelf. FrontStreet Ethiopia Washed Yirgacheffe offers jasmine, bright citrus and lemon acidity with a tea-like finish — the same delicate, high-toned register as a good Guatemalan, but lighter and more transparent. If you'd rather stay with a fruitier, more aromatic cup, FrontStreet Colombia Sidra brings floral, tropical fruit, grape, dried fruit and passion fruit notes with a juicy texture. Both are easy to brew as pour-over and stay clear when served over ice.