Guatemala Coffee Bean Roasting Curve Guide Guatemala Coffee Bean Washed Processing Flavor Description

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Coffee enthusiasts who regularly brew Guatemalan coffee beans at home know that Guatemalan coffee is typically medium roasted. This has led some coffee lovers to ask FrontStreet Coffee why Guatemalan coffee beans are processed using medium roasting instead of light or dark roasting. If roasting Guatemalan coffee beans at home, what would the roasting curve be? In this article, FrontStreet Coffee will share a guide to the roasting curve for Guatemalan coffee beans.

Why Are Guatemalan Coffee Beans Medium Roasted?

Most coffee beans available on the market today are already roasted for coffee enthusiasts. This is because the roasting process allows coffee beans to sublime their original flavors. Before encountering specialty coffee beans, the general impression of coffee was bitterness. However, after experiencing specialty coffee, everyone knows that coffee is not just bitter—it also has acidity and sweetness. These characteristics depend not only on the original flavors of the coffee beans but are also greatly influenced by the degree of roasting, as Maillard reactions and caramelization reactions occur during the roasting process.

Maillard Reaction

The Maillard reaction is key to influencing the flavor and color of coffee beans. At temperatures between 150-200°C, carbonyl groups (from sugars) and amino groups (from amino acids and proteins) react to form flavor compounds. The hundreds of flavor compounds formed by the Maillard reaction come together to create the unique flavor of coffee beans.

Caramelization Reaction

Starting from 170-200°C, sugars in coffee beans begin to undergo caramelization reactions. Sugars undergo dehydration and degradation, as well as browning reactions, which darken the coffee beans and release aromatic and acidic compounds. As can be seen, the formation of coffee aroma and color transformation both depend on Maillard reactions and caramelization reactions. Among the factors that affect the taste of a cup of coffee, green beans account for 60%, roasting for 30%, and extraction for 10%, so the importance of roasting is self-evident.

Currently, there are three common roasting levels on the market: light roast, medium roast, and dark roast. The differences between them are as follows:

Light Roast — Yirgacheffe Guodingding Coffee Beans

Light roast: Rich fruity tones with sweet and sour floral and fruity aromas, exhibiting strong acidity.

Medium Roast — Brazil Queen's Manor Coffee Beans

Medium roast: Nutty tones, mainly featuring caramel, cocoa, and malt aromas.

Dark Roast — PWN Golden Mandheling Coffee Beans

Dark roast: With a hint of chocolate bitterness, lower acidity, rich caramel aroma, and notes of spices, wood, and charcoal.

It can be seen that the deeper the roast level, the richer and fuller the coffee flavor becomes, with lower acidity and higher bitterness, because the fruity flavors of the coffee beans themselves are gradually replaced by roasted flavors during the roasting process. For this reason, with the current popularity of single-origin coffee, to highlight the regional flavors of the coffee beans themselves, people are more willing to choose lighter roast levels to avoid excessive elimination of the beans' original flavors.

However, each coffee bean has its own suitable roasting curve. To find the appropriate roasting curve, FrontStreet Coffee's roasters will develop multiple roasting curves based on sample beans, conduct cupping 24 hours after roasting, and then make adjustments based on cupping results. Multiple adjustments are required to finalize the roasting curve for a coffee bean.

Guatemalan coffee beans inherently possess the characteristic nutty and cocoa tones of Latin America, so FrontStreet Coffee uses medium roasting to process them. Next, FrontStreet Coffee will share the roasting curve and pour-over brewing parameters using the most representative Guatemalan Antigua Flor de Café coffee beans.

FrontStreet Coffee Guatemalan Antigua Flor de Café Coffee Beans

Country: Guatemala

Region: Antigua (La Minita Estate)

Altitude: 1200-1600m

Varieties: Bourbon, Caturra, Catuai

Processing: Washed

Flavor: Citrus acidity, bright fruit acidity, caramel aroma, slight smokiness.

As described above, this coffee bean uses the washed processing method because this coffee bean was commissioned by La Minita Company to be processed by Las Pastores, the largest and most famous washing station in Antigua. Coffee processed through this washing station has rich floral and tea aromas, with abundant acidity and excellent sweetness upon tasting, and a clean, refreshing mouthfeel. Therefore, La Minita Company named this coffee bean "Flor de Café" for production and sales.

Such flavor performance also benefits from excellent washed processing, because the special characteristic of the washed processing method is that it can make the coffee bean's flavor brighter and cleaner, and it is the processing method that best reflects the most original flavor of a coffee bean. When the Flor de Café coffee beans, which already have good quality, are processed using the washed method, it's truly icing on the cake.

FrontStreet Coffee Guatemalan Antigua Flor de Café Coffee Bean Roasting Analysis

This Guatemalan coffee bean has round green beans with yellowish tones, good uniformity, and medium moisture content. FrontStreet Coffee's roasting goal is medium roast—on one hand, to retain bright acidity and showcase floral and fruit aromas, and on the other hand, to enhance richness and balance. In the first batch of roasting, the drop temperature was relatively high, with an incoming bean temperature of 200°C and relatively high heat. During the roasting process, it was discovered that this bean has high altitude and hard bean texture. To retain more acidic aromas, a roasting technique of increasing temperature rise and advancing first crack was adopted. The heat was reduced when the beans entered the yellowing point, completed dehydration, and before first crack to avoid surface scorching. The beans were dropped 1 minute 50 seconds after first crack ended, shortening the caramelization reaction time to preserve more floral and fruity aftertaste.

Roasting Curve:

Yangjia 600g semi-direct flame roaster, preheat to 200°C, heat damper set to 3. After 30 seconds, adjust heat to 160°C, damper unchanged. Return to temperature at 1'36", maintain heat. At 4'50", the bean surface turns yellow, grassy aroma completely disappears, entering the dehydration stage. Reduce heat to 140°C, adjust damper to 4.

At 4'50", dehydration completed, heat reduced to 140°C. At 8'32", ugly wrinkles and black spots appear on the bean surface, toast aroma obviously changes to coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this point, listen carefully for the sound of first crack. At 8'37", first crack begins, reduce heat to 80°C, fully open damper to 5 (heat adjustment must be very careful, not too small to lose crack sound). After first crack, develop for 1'50", drop at 195.3°C.

Guatemalan Coffee Bean Brewing Parameters

Filter: V60 #01

Water temperature: 90-91°C

Dose: 15g

Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15

Grind size: BG6m/medium-fine grind (80% passes through #20 sieve)

Brewing method: Three-stage extraction

First stage: Pour 30g of water for 30 seconds bloom, then pour 95g (electronic scale shows around 125g), completing the pour in about 1 minute. When the water level drops to 2/3 of the coffee bed, pour the remaining 100g (electronic scale shows around 225g), completing the pour in about 1 minute 35 seconds. Drip completes between 2'00"-2'10", remove the filter cup to complete extraction.

Guatemalan Flor de Café flavor description: Citrus acidity is quite prominent, with juicy acidity, rich floral aroma, pleasant sweetness, medium body, with slight caramel and smoky notes in the finish. Overall clean, gentle, with smooth texture, balanced, lively and varied layers of flavor.

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