How to Make Iced Pour-Over Coffee with Guatemala European Standard Agua Dulce_Is Agua Dulce Coffee Delicious

Guatemala SHB EP Agua Dulce Coffee Profile

Full Name: Guatemala SHB EP Agua Dulce

Plantation/Exporter: Huehuetenango

Harvest Period: November - March

Altitude: 1400M - 1700M

Moisture Content: 12.3%

Processing Method: Washed

Season: 2016

Cupping Notes: Green apple acidity, floral notes, honey, black chocolate aftertaste

Recommended Roast Level: Medium-dark roast

The Agua Dulce region sits in the Agua volcano area of Antigua, Guatemala. The area produces 100% Arabica beans, and Antigua is one of the country's most celebrated coffee-growing zones. Coffee here is cultivated at the Hacienda Carmona plantation, whose finest lots are known as EL Pulcal. Beyond its excellent quality, this coffee offers a richer flavor, a more complex body, and stronger tobacco notes than other Guatemalan coffees.

Roughly every 30 years, the volcanoes around Antigua erupt, adding nitrogen to soil that is already fertile. With abundant rainfall and sunshine, the area is ideally suited to growing coffee. The coffee belt lies above 1500 meters, between 14 and 16 degrees north latitude - perfect conditions for Strictly Hard Bean (SHB) coffee. All of it is washed processed, and 45% is classified as specialty grade, a remarkably high proportion.

Guatemala SHB is prized for its elegant, lively acidity and its clean, impurity-free cup. Expect distinct layers, green apple acidity, berry notes, jasmine florals, orange peel, a hint of green pepper, fruit acidity and sweetness, chocolate aromas, and even a smoky note in the aftertaste. It is a bitter-yet-fragrant cup with excellent body.

How to Brew Guatemala Agua Dulce Coffee

FrontStreet Hand-pour Reference: Weigh out 15g of Agua Dulce grounds and grind to a medium consistency - slightly coarser than table salt. We use a BG grinder at a 5R setting (60% standard sieve pass rate), with 89°C water and a V60 dripper.

Pour the hot water in clockwise circles, starting from the center of the dripper, and begin timing as soon as you start pouring. Within 15 seconds, build up to 30g, then stop. When the clock reaches 1 minute, start the second pour. As with the first, circle outward from the center, keeping the stream off the spot where the grounds meet the filter paper so you avoid channeling.

Leave a ring of dry grounds at the outermost edge, then continue circling back toward the center. At 2 minutes 20 seconds, you should have poured up to 220g, completing the extraction.

Japanese-style Iced Pour-over - Agua Dulce

FrontStreet Iced Pour-over Reference for Agua Dulce:

Guatemala Agua Dulce, light-to-medium roast, BG grinder at a 5M setting (67% standard sieve pass rate).

20g coffee grounds, 150g ice cubes, 150g hot water. The water should sit 1°C higher than the usual hand-pour temperature of 89°C, at 90°C. For regular brewing, use a Fuji 3.5 setting, but for iced pour-over grind a touch finer - Fuji 3.

Bloom with 40g of water for 30 seconds.

Pour in stages: a first stage of 60g, then a second of 40g. Keep the water column fairly thin but high, so it stirs and agitates the bed forcefully and the grounds tumble fully. Take care not to let the water level rise too high or touch the filter paper at the edge.

The whole extraction should take roughly 2.5 minutes (about the same as a normal brew with 20g of grounds).

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Swapping Agua Dulce for a fruit-forward Ethiopian bean is one of the easiest ways to make iced pour-over shine, since bright, aromatic coffees hold up beautifully over ice. FrontStreet's Yirgacheffe Gudingding is a great place to start: this washed Ethiopian coffee carries the region's classic citrus, berry, and floral notes, with a green-tea-like sweetness on the finish. Its acidity is soft and bright rather than sharp, much like the natural tartness of fruit, which makes it a very approachable choice if you are new to iced pour-over.

If you want the fruit turned all the way up, try FrontStreet's Ethiopia Huakui. It is defined by an explosive tropical aroma - strawberry, passion fruit, jackfruit, even lychee - with pronounced sweetness and very little bitterness. Smooth and full of juice, it pours into a remarkably refreshing glass over ice, and it pairs naturally with the thin, high water stream used in the recipe above.