Guatemalan Arabica Coffee Varieties and Grade Introduction

FrontStreet Coffee - Introduction to Guatemala Coffee Grades and Varieties

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Guatemala is a major coffee producer in Central America, ranking eighth in world production. The name Guatemala comes from the Mayan language, meaning "land of many trees." Located in Central America, it is known as the "pearl on the crown of Central America." Although Guatemala has limited land area, it boasts rich and diverse climates. A country known for its lakes and volcanoes, Guatemala possesses the natural environment suitable for coffee growth with its volcanic soil, precipitation, temperature, humidity, and altitude.

It is a renowned producer of high-quality Arabica coffee in Central America. Coffee from its five volcanic regions and three non-volcanic regions is very distinctive and enjoys a high reputation in the international market.

Caturra

Caturra is a single-gene variant of Bourbon, discovered in Brazil in 1937. Its production capacity and disease resistance are both superior to Bourbon, and the plant is shorter, making harvesting easier. Unfortunately, like Bourbon, it has the problem of biennial production cycles. However, its flavor is comparable to or slightly inferior to Bourbon beans. More importantly, it has extremely strong adaptability, not requiring shade trees and thriving directly under intense sunlight, commonly known as "Sun Coffee." It can adapt to high-density planting but requires more fertilizer, increasing costs, so it was not initially well-received by coffee farmers.

Caturra is suitable for cultivation from low altitudes of 700 meters to high altitudes of 1700 meters, showing strong altitude adaptability. However, the higher the altitude, the better the flavor, though production capacity decreases accordingly - this is the destiny of specialty beans. Academics sometimes refer to Caturra as the intensive and sun-exposed version of Bourbon, which is quite fitting. There is also a yellow variant of Caturra (Caturra Amarello) in Central and South America, but its reputation is not as good as Yellow Bourbon.

Catuai

Catai is a hybrid Arabica variety, a cross between Mundo Novo (New World) and Caturra. It has better resistance to natural disasters, particularly wind and rain. It inherits the advantage of Caturra's short plant height, addressing one of Mundo Novo's shortcomings. Another advantage is its firm fruit that doesn't easily fall off in strong winds, compensating for the fragile nature of Arabica cherries. However, its overall flavor performance is more monotonous than Caturra and also more monotonous and lacks body compared to Mundo Novo, which is its greatest regret. Additionally, its fruit growth and harvesting lifespan is only about ten years, making its short lifespan another weakness.

After its official release in the 1970s, it was promoted to Central American countries and widely planted in Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, as well as its country of origin, Brazil. Considering flavor alone, under the right terroir conditions and processing methods, Catuai can produce quite wonderful flavors.

Catai was introduced to Honduras in 1979 and officially released commercially in 1989. It was widely welcomed by farmers and today accounts for more than half of all production in Honduras! Because Catuai plants are short, they can be densely planted, and the flavor above 1300 meters altitude is also quite good. The only disadvantage is that it is very susceptible to pests and diseases. Honduras's IHCAFE is working hard to develop hybrids of Catuai and Catimor to improve disease resistance.

Bourbon

Bourbon is a variety of coffee tree, belonging to a branch of the Arabica species. It is named according to the color of the coffee fruit when mature, such as red, yellow, orange, and pink Bourbon. Among these, orange Bourbon has lower production, while pink Bourbon production is extremely rare.

The name Bourbon originates from "Réunion Island." The French attempted three times to introduce coffee from Yemen to Bourbon Island (now Réunion Island) in 1708, 1715, and 1718; however, it was the second and third transplants that survived and propagated.

In 1841, a French missionary established a church in the French Réunion Island. After leaving Réunion Island, he went to several African countries including Zanzibar, Bagamoyo, St. Augustine, and Bula to establish new churches, and planted coffee from Réunion Island in each church. From then on, "Bourbon coffee" also existed on the African continent.

Guatemala Coffee Grades

The highest grade coffee is called SHB (Strictly Hard Bean), grown at altitudes above 1350m. Next is HB (Hard Bean), grown at altitudes between 1200m-1400m. There are also SH (Semi Hard Bean), EPW (Extra Prime Washed), PW (Prime Washed), EGW (Extra Good Washed), and GW (Good Washed), with respective growing altitudes of 1200m, around 1000m, around 800m, 600m-800m, and below 600m.

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