Guatemala Coffee Bean Varieties, Flavor Profiles, History, and Brewing Parameters

Professional coffee knowledge exchange. For more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style).

FrontStreet Coffee's Guatemala coffee beans are characterized by rich fruity acidity and a smoky aftertaste. Currently, FrontStreet Coffee's daily bean series includes a classic Guatemalan coffee flavor. Speaking of FrontStreet Coffee's daily beans, many friends ask why they're called "daily beans" or why sometimes they're available at promotional prices as low as 9.9 yuan—is it because the coffee bean quality is poor?

FrontStreet Coffee's daily beans are the "signature representatives" among regional coffee beans, as they have higher recognition of basic regional flavors and are also high-quality, cost-effective coffee beans.

When selecting a "daily bean" for sale, FrontStreet Coffee carefully selects the most representative beans of local original flavors from major producing regions. In packaging, FrontStreet Coffee introduces them to everyone at a 100g tasting price. The significance of FrontStreet Coffee's daily beans lies in allowing people to recognize the basic flavors of major producing regions at low prices, such as the lemon acidity of FrontStreet Coffee's Ethiopian Yirgacheffe, the herbal taste of FrontStreet Coffee's Indonesian Mandheling, and the nutty chocolate flavors of FrontStreet Coffee's Brazil and FrontStreet Coffee's Colombia varieties.

Guatemala began cultivating coffee around 1850. Before World War I, Germans controlled up to 80% of the country's production, most of which was exported to Germany. In the 1990s, Guatemala's official coffee farmers' association ANACAFE divided the country into 8 regions based on geography and flavor, promoting these origins as registered trademarks. These include Antigua, Acatenango, Huehuetenango, and Lake Atitlán, where many award-winning farms are located. Common coffee varieties in Guatemala now include Typica, Bourbon, Caturra, Catuai, Pacas, Maragogype, Pacamara (a hybrid of the latter two), Pache Comum (a local variant of Typica), and Gesha.

Guatemala, this Central American country has the best coffee growing environment, including the perfect combination of altitude for coffee growth, fertile soil, and climate conditions during the coffee growth period. Coffee produced in the Guatemala-Antigua region is the most well-known. When mentioning it, people think of its characteristic smoky flavor and sweet milk chocolate. The best quality FrontStreet Coffee's Antigua coffee is the Guatemala Antigua high-altitude volcanic beans produced by small farms in the volcanic region.

Guatemala Coffee Grades

The higher the altitude, the higher the density of coffee beans, and the higher the grade of green coffee beans:

SHB (Strictly Hard Bean): Grown at altitudes of 1500-1700 meters;

HB (Hard Bean): Grown at altitudes of 1350-1500 meters;

SH (Semi Hard Bean): Grown at altitudes of 1200-1350 meters;

Extra Prime (Extra Prime Washed): Grown at altitudes of 1000-1200 meters;

Prime (Prime Washed): Grown at altitudes of 850-1000 meters;

Good Washed: Grown at altitudes of 700-850 meters.

Guatemala Coffee Processing Methods

Guatemala's processing methods are mainly washed, with a small amount being natural. FrontStreet Coffee often encounters customers asking about the differences between washed and natural processing. It's important to know that even coffee beans from the same producing region and estate can be divided into washed and natural varieties. In fact, friends who frequently buy FrontStreet Coffee's daily beans will notice that FrontStreet Coffee's daily beans mostly use washed processing, because washed processing can present the basic flavor of a producing region and is the beginning of understanding regional flavors. Natural processing adds sweet aromatics and fermentation notes to this basic flavor.

Washed Processing Steps:

1. Harvesting. After picking mature coffee fruits, initial removal of impurities, defective beans, and screening of floaters is done—up to this point, it's the same as natural processing.

2. Depulping. Fresh fruits are sent to a pulping machine to remove the skin and pulp. Immature fruits, whose pulp doesn't separate easily, are screened out at this stage. After passing through the pulping machine, what remains is mucilage, parchment, and seeds.

3. Fermentation to remove mucilage. The depulped seeds with mucilage are transferred to fermentation tanks. Although it's called the "washed method," it doesn't actually wash away the mucilage but uses biological decomposition through fermentation to remove it. The fermentation process takes about 16-36 hours, during which constant stirring is needed to accelerate the separation of mucilage from the seeds. Washed fermentation produces acidic substances such as citric acid, malic acid, and acetic acid. These acid values penetrate the green beans, making washed beans more acidic than natural processed beans. After fermentation is complete, actual washing occurs—the beans are washed again.

4. Drying. After washing, the beans need to be sun-dried or machine-dried to reduce moisture content to 12%. Since the pulp has been removed in the washed method, there's no need to worry about mold problems during drying like in natural processing. The dried parchment green beans are not as hard as natural processed beans containing pulp and skin, and can be hulled using a hulling machine to obtain green beans.

Guatemala Coffee Regions

Guatemala has eight major producing regions, divided into five volcanic regions and three non-volcanic regions. Five volcanic regions: Antigua, Acatenango, Atitlán, Volcanic San Marcos, and Fraijanes. Three non-volcanic regions: Huehuetenango, Cobán, and New Oriente.

Antigua Region

Antigua is located in the central highlands of Guatemala. This region has a subtropical monsoon climate with abundant rainfall, fertile volcanic ash soil, ample sunshine, and large temperature differences between day and night. The coffee produced has bright acidity, fruity aroma, and excellent balance, making Antigua a famous coffee-producing region in Guatemala.

Antigua is one of Guatemala's most renowned coffee-producing regions, with the highest frequency of awards and is crowned as "classic." This region is surrounded by three volcanoes: Agua, Fuego, and Acatenango. Fuego is one of Guatemala's three most active volcanoes. Due to frequent local volcanic activity, volcanic pumice can maintain humidity and provide continuous volcanic ash and minerals to the region's soil, compensating for Antigua's relatively low rainfall.

FrontStreet Coffee's Guatemala Antigua La Flor del Café

FrontStreet Coffee Guatemala La Minita La Flor del Café

Region: Antigua

Trader: La Minita

Altitude: 1200-1600m

Variety: Bourbon, Caturra

Processing: Washed

Grade: SHB

La Minita is a trading company that created its own coffee brand "La Flor del Café" in Guatemala, which means "Coffee Flower" and is translated as "Flower Goddess" in Chinese.

This FrontStreet Coffee Guatemala La Flor del Café coffee variety is Bourbon and Caturra. Bourbon is a natural variant of Typica, standing alongside Typica as ancient, high-quality varieties. The beans are slightly smaller and rounder than Typica. Caturra is a natural variant of Bourbon, featuring fresh lemon-citrus acidity in flavor, though slightly less sweet than Typica and Bourbon.

FrontStreet Coffee uses light roasting for this FrontStreet Coffee Guatemala La Flor del Café coffee bean to highlight its rich juice-like mouthfeel. Multiple parameter adjustments and cupping sessions were conducted to achieve this.

Brewing Parameters

Coffee Amount: 15g

Ratio: 1:15

Water Temperature: 90°C

Grind Size: 80% pass-through through 0.85mm sieve

Filter: Hario v60 #01

Brewing Process:

First Pour: 30g of water, bloom for 30 seconds

Second Pour: Inject 95g of water (scale shows 125g), completed in about 1 minute

Third Pour: Inject 100g of water (scale shows 225g), completed in about 1 minute 40 seconds

Extraction Time: 1 minute 54 seconds, remove filter to complete brewing

Flavor Description: Berry acidity, citrus, slight chocolate, rich layering, smooth mouthfeel

FrontStreet Coffee · Guatemala Antigua Santa Clara

Region: Antigua

Estate: Santa Clara Estate

Altitude: 1500 to 1700 meters

Variety: Bourbon

Processing: Washed

The Zelaya family has been growing coffee for over 100 years, spanning four generations. Santa Clara Estate is one of the coffee estates owned and operated by them.

Santa Clara covers 90 hectares and is located on the fertile southern slopes of the Agua River at altitudes above 1500 meters in the Antigua Valley. This estate has been managed by Ricardo Zelaya since 1988, who is the fourth generation of the Zelaya family to grow coffee at Santa Clara Estate.

FrontStreet Coffee uses medium roasting for this FrontStreet Coffee Guatemala Santa Clara coffee bean, distinguishing it from FrontStreet Coffee's Guatemala La Flor del Café coffee bean. FrontStreet Coffee previously roasted three curves and found that although lighter roasting could present the fruit acidity of this bean, the overall flavor was relatively thin with poor mouthfeel. Instead, a slightly darker roast degree could present excellent layering.

Brewing Parameters

Coffee Amount: 15g

Ratio: 1:15

Water Temperature: 90°C

Grind Size: 80% pass-through through 0.85mm sieve

Filter: Hario v60 #01

Brewing Process:

First Pour: 30g of water, bloom for 30 seconds

Second Pour: Inject 95g of water (scale shows 125g), completed in about 1 minute

Third Pour: Inject 100g of water (scale shows 225g), completed in about 1 minute 40 seconds

Extraction Time: 1 minute 54 seconds, remove filter to complete brewing

Flavor Description: Berry-like flavors reminiscent of blackberries, followed by citrus, orange peel, nuts, and black tea notes

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee on private WeChat: kaixinguoguo0925

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473