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Guatemala's New Oriente Coffee Region

The Guatemalan Coffee Association established the Guatemalan coffee brand and defined coffees from eight different origins with the slogan "A Rainbow of Choices." These eight regions are divided into: Antigua Classic, Huehuetenango, Rainforest Coban, Traditional Atitlan, Fraijanes Plateau, Volcanic San Marcos, Acatenango, and New Oriente coffee-producing regions.

New Oriente is Guatemala's youngest coffee-producing region. This area receives abundant rainfall and is perpetually shaded by clouds, giving it a climate similar to the Rainforest Coban region. In ancient times, it was a volcanic area, and the soil here is composed of metamorphic rock, making it rich in minerals. Before coffee cultivation began, New Oriente was one of Guatemala's poorest regions. Since the 1950s, farmers in the mountainous areas have relied on the naturally nutrient-rich land to start coffee cultivation, gradually bringing vitality to the region. It has now become a rising star in Guatemala's coffee industry.

Altitude: 1,300-1,700 meters
Harvest period: December to March

Coffee from this region has been grown entirely by small farmers since the 1950s. Today, every farmer in the mountainous area is a coffee production unit. This region was once the most remote and poorest area in Guatemala but now shows thriving vitality. With abundant rain and many clouds, New Oriente was an ancient volcanic area where soil evolved from volcanic metamorphic rock, making it rich in minerals and nutritionally balanced, unlike other volcanic coffee regions.

Characteristics: Balanced flavor, full body, with chocolate notes.

Country: Guatemala
Region: New Oriente
Estate: Cardilas Estate
Grade: SHB
Processing method: Wine-scented natural process
Variety: Pacas
Altitude: 1,675 meters
Flavor: Passion fruit, strawberry cream sandwich, blueberry

Guatemala has numerous volcanoes, and coffee produced from volcanic soil yields rich, specialty coffees. Guatemala has a high average altitude, which means coffee trees grow in environments with significant day-night temperature variations. This harsh environment with large temperature differences causes coffee cherries to grow longer and slower on the trees, resulting in hard beans with more complete and richer flavors.

New Oriente's rich volcanic soil, lower humidity, abundant sunlight, and cool nights are characteristic features of this region. This valley is surrounded by three volcanoes: Agua, Fuego, and Acatenango. Volcanic ash from eruptions has enriched the Antigua region's soil with minerals. Volcanic pumice can retain moisture, overcoming the disadvantage of low rainfall in the Antigua region; dense shade provides protection against occasional frost damage.

Characteristics: Rich aroma, good balance, high sweetness, elegant and smooth flavor.

Wine-scented natural process flavor: Pineapple, muskmelon, dried apricot, candied lemon peel, Bordeaux wine, green tea with cinnamon spice, overall rich in sweet flavors and full-bodied smoky plum aroma.

Roasting Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee suggests taking the [Guatemala Guava Plain] as an example. This is an SL28 + honey-processed bean, and the roaster's first thought was: both sour and sweet! Guatemala high-altitude coffee beans have high hardness, and honey processing also gives the coffee beans hard texture. Through the first roast, it was discovered that this bean absorbs heat slowly during the dehydration stage, and slow heating leading to excessive roasting time would result in baked flavors.

Therefore, the roaster changed their approach, adopting a method of high heat and fast drying during the dehydration stage, extending the yellowing point Maillard reaction time and first crack development time to achieve mature coffee. This roasting was done for 2 batches, and cupping comparisons were made after 8 hours.

Curve A and Curve B above show two high-heat fast-drying extended development roasting curves. The yellowing points for batches A and B were 5'30 and 4'50 respectively, while the first crack points were 185°C/8'40 and 187°C/8'36. The drop temperatures and development times were 196°C/1'50 and 198°C/2'00 respectively. Based on roasting curve analysis, batch B received more energy in the early stages and had a longer flavor development time, so it's predictable that both enzymatic flavors and caramelization flavors would be better than batch A. But did the cupping truly reflect the roasting results?

Cupping results are as follows:

Batch A: Roasted peanuts, almonds, cocoa, caramel, grapefruit, cream.

Batch B: Floral notes, toffee, almonds, cocoa, cinnamon, plums, jackfruit, with a faint tobacco aroma brewed from Guatemala's volcanic soil.

Additional notes: Batch B coffee showed better sweet-sour balance, higher sweetness, long aftertaste, and stronger return sweetness.

Roaster: Yangjia 600g, bean charge 300g, roasting room temperature 28°C, humidity 50%.

The roaster used low-temperature bean charging, opening the heat to 160 after 30 seconds, with damper at 3, allowing the temperature return to reach 101°C. At the browning point of 160°C, the damper was opened to 4; due to water vapor release, there would be a slight temperature increase during this minute. Based on the first crack temperature from the previous 2 batches, predicting the first crack point around 185°C, we reduced the heat to 100 at 10°C in advance, slowing the temperature rise to lay the foundation for extending the first crack development time. First crack at 187°C, with 11°C development, taking 2 minutes, during which crack sounds could be heard appearing in an orderly manner.

Important Notice :

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