Is Guatemala Geisha Coffee Delicious? Proper Brewing Methods and Flavor Characteristics of Guatemala Geisha Coffee Beans

When it comes to Gesha, most people will say that the Gesha from Panama's Hacienda La Esmeralda is the best. In fact, FrontStreet Coffee believes that Gesha is also coffee, and more often makes people feel like a cup of rich fruit tea. However, there are Gesha coffees all over the world, such as Costa Rica, Colombia, Guatemala, and even Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee, all have Gesha coffee, but the flavor of Gesha coffee will differ depending on the country of origin.

Coffee is originally an agricultural product, directly related to the environment and climate of its growing region. Guatemala belongs to high-altitude volcanic terrain, and these volcanoes are the most ideal places for cultivating coffee. Therefore, you will find that Guatemalan coffee has a smoky flavor. The Gesha coffee from Guatemala is a wild coffee variety from Ethiopia, a very rare premium coffee. This single-origin coffee comes from the Nueva Granada coffee farm in San Marcos, Guatemala, where plants grow at an altitude of 5,000 feet. The farm is located between two volcanoes, Tacaná and Tajumulco, with rich volcanic soil. Guatemalan Gesha coffee can be described as having low acidity with chocolate and nutty flavors. Annual harvest is limited. Rainforest Alliance certified. Medium roast. Cupping notes: crisp, elegant, sweet and delicious. Notes of baker's chocolate, lemon blossoms, muscat, dried peaches, and almonds.

Coffee Growing Environment

The coffee produced in Guatemala belongs to the world's top-tier coffees. Because it is located in high-altitude volcanic terrain, compared with other coffee varieties, connoisseurs prefer this mixed-flavor coffee with spicy notes. The extra-hard coffee beans from this region are rare good coffee, with full beans, delicious taste, and balanced acidity. Additionally, its giant coffee beans have also made Guatemala gain attention.

Guatemala is located in the center of North and South America, and its geographical location holds an important position in Central America. Guatemala's land area is about 108,899 square kilometers. The country's characteristics can be divided into: highland volcanoes, lowland tropical forests, Pacific coastal volcanic sand plains, and the virgin land of the Caribbean coast. The Sierra Madre mountain range of Central America spans east to west across Guatemala, covering about 2/3 of the country, with 34 volcanoes within its borders. In this country, rivers and lakes dot the landscape, while equatorial forests and plains jungles cover the land. There are also undeveloped volcanic beaches on the Pacific and Caribbean coasts. Guatemala has a high average altitude, with coffee belts distributed above 1,500 meters, making it most suitable for growing extra-hard beans.

Coffee was actually introduced to Guatemala in 1750 by Jesuit priests, and by the end of the 19th century, German colonists developed the coffee industry here. Today, most coffee production is carried out in the southern part of the country.

Guatemalan Coffee Growing Regions

Guatemala has a total of eight major growing regions, divided into five volcanic regions and three non-volcanic regions. The five volcanic regions are: Antigua, Acatenango, Atitlan, Volcanic San Marcos, and Fraijanes. The three non-volcanic regions are: Huehuetenango, Cobán, and New Oriente. Guatemala has more than 300 microclimates throughout the country, considered the world's most. The flavors of coffee produced in Guatemala's various regions differ, but generally speaking, Guatemalan coffee presents a mild and mellow overall texture, with elegant aroma and a special, pleasant acidity similar to fruit acids, making it the aristocrat of coffees, among which Antigua Classic coffee is highly recommended by global coffee connoisseurs.

Antigua

The city of Antigua is the oldest and most beautiful city in the Americas. As early as 1543, Antigua was the capital of the entire colonial era in Central America, and the Spanish Governor's Palace was also established here. After the great earthquake of 1773, the entire city of Antigua was destroyed, and the capital was moved to Guatemala City. Antigua is located about 40 kilometers west of Guatemala City. The colonial-era buildings were damaged by earthquakes but have been preserved in their original state after the earthquake, making it a living historical museum.

Today's Antigua is a famous coffee-producing region. Rich volcanic soil, low humidity, strong sunlight, and cool evening breezes are the characteristics of the Antigua region. Three spectacular active volcanoes—Agua, Acatenango, and Fuego—form a valley landscape. The active Fuego volcano occasionally adds hazy dust. About every 30 years, the Antigua area suffers from volcanic eruptions, which provide more nitrogen to the already fertile land, and sufficient rainfall and sunlight make this place more suitable for growing coffee.

Antigua's coffee is produced at the Camona estate, where the best quality coffee is El Pulcal. Not only is it of good quality, but compared to other Latin American coffees, this coffee can be said to be quite complete, with rich layers and stunning quality. If you enjoy it with chocolate, you will have unexpected discoveries. Most importantly, its flavor is very rich, with more complex taste, and it has a fascinating tobacco flavor, praised as "the most perfect coffee bean." Such as FrontStreet Coffee's Guatemalan Flora Coffee.

Huehuetenango

The Huehuetenango region is located in the highlands of northwestern Guatemala, with growing altitudes reaching 1,800-2,100 meters, making it the country's highest-altitude coffee-growing region, famous for producing excellent quality beans. The dry, hot winds from Mexico's Tehuantepec plateau protect the region's coffee beans from frost damage. Local people plant coffee trees in areas close to 2,000 meters, which can be said to be a gift from nature for coffee growing. Although Huehuetenango has a dry climate, streams crisscross within the region, providing plenty of clean water for irrigation or supplying washing stations. During the harvest season, washing can be done directly on the mountains. Due to the numerous rivers and lakes in Guatemala, the Huehuetenango region has rich mountains and water resources. Although the climate is dry, water is abundant, and the region has complete water facilities, so coffee is mostly processed using the washing method. Harvest period: January to April.

FrontStreet Coffee selected washed Guatemalan Huehuetenango as the representative coffee for Guatemala's coffee-producing country. It has distinct citrus notes, with the acidity of lemon peel yet the richness of berries, and nutty flavors in the finish.

Coffee Varieties

Guatemala mainly cultivates Bourbon, Typica, Caturra, and Catuai. Bourbon and Typica are both the oldest Arabica coffee varieties, often appearing as specialty coffees.

Bourbon: A natural mutation of Typica. When ripe, coffee cherries display a wine-red color, and the coffee beans are rounder in shape. Bourbon grown at high altitudes typically has better aroma and bright acidity, with wine-like flavors when tasted. Such as FrontStreet Coffee's daily drink Brazil coffee and single-origin Brazil Queen coffee.

Typica: Typica has excellent flavor expression and is recognized as a specialty coffee variety, but its yield is extremely low and it is susceptible to rust disease, requiring more labor-intensive management. Typica coffee originates from southeastern Ethiopia and Sudan and is the most widely cultivated coffee variety in the Western Hemisphere. The plant is relatively robust but not tolerant to strong light. Typica's top leaves are copper-colored, known as copper-top coffee. Examples include: Blue Mountain coffee, Panama Elida coffee, and FrontStreet Coffee's own estate-grown Frontsteet 2013 natural process Typica coffee.

Caturra: A natural mutation of Bourbon, discovered in Brazil in 1937. Its plant is not as tall as Bourbon, being more compact. Due to inheriting Bourbon's lineage, it has relatively weak disease resistance but higher yield than Bourbon. Although discovered in Brazil, Caturra is not suitable for growing in Brazil, so it was not cultivated on a large scale there. Instead, it became widely popular in Central and South America, with Colombia, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua all planting Caturra on a large scale. Examples: FrontStreet Coffee's Colombian Moonlight Night and Rose Valley coffee are both Caturra varieties.

Catuai: A coffee variety artificially hybridized from Caturra and Mundo Novo. Catuai inherits Caturra's compact plant structure, requiring no shade, making it easy to grow and convenient for harvesting. It also has better resistance to natural disasters than Mundo Novo. It has good acidity in flavor. Catuai generally comes in both red and yellow fruit types.

Guatemalan Coffee Bean Processing Methods

Guatemalan coffee beans are mainly processed using the washing method.

After harvesting, the selected coffee cherries are put into a depulper to initially remove the skin and pulp. Then the coffee beans with remaining pulp and mucilage are placed in water for about 24 hours of fermentation. After fermentation, they are placed in flowing water channels for washing. After washing, the coffee beans are dried or dried using drying machines until the moisture content reduces to about 12%, then transferred to warehouses. Finally, the parchment is removed from the green coffee beans for sale. This processing method can result in very clean taste. At the same time, FrontStreet Coffee believes that washed processed coffee best reflects the basic flavor of a producing region, so this bean is also very suitable for coffee beginners to mark Guatemalan origin flavor.

FrontStreet Coffee Roasting Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee has two Guatemalan coffees. One is the daily drink Huehuetenango coffee, with varieties of Bourbon, Caturra, and Catuai. The other is the single-origin Guatemalan Flora coffee, with varieties of Caturra and Bourbon. Guatemalan coffee beans themselves carry the characteristic nutty and cocoa notes of Latin America, with light floral fragrance and soft fruit acidity. FrontStreet Coffee uses medium-light roasting to preserve more floral and fruity aromas, with clean and bright acidity.

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Parameters for Guatemala Coffee:

Guatemalan coffee beans are medium-light roasted. Light-roasted beans have lower solubility than dark-roasted ones. FrontStreet Coffee recommends using a V60 dripper with faster flow rate, higher water temperature, and finer grind size.

FrontStreet Coffee uses medium-fine grind/fine sugar consistency (80% pass-through rate with China No. 20 standard sieve). Using 15g of coffee powder, then pairing with V60 dripper, 91°C water temperature, 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, and three-pour brewing technique.

Using three-stage extraction, bloom with 2 times the amount of water to coffee powder, i.e., 30g of water for 30 seconds. The reason for needing the blooming process is to allow the coffee powder to release internal carbon dioxide gas, making the later extraction more stable. Use small circular water flow to pour to 125g, then continue pouring to 225g and stop. Wait for the water to finish dripping from the dripper, then remove the dripper. Start timing from the beginning of pouring, extraction time is 2'00". Next, take the entire cup of coffee and shake it evenly, then pour into a cup for tasting.

Guatemalan Huehuetenango Coffee Flavor Characteristics: Citrus and berry acidity, lemon peel, nutty aroma in the middle, tea-like finish.

Guatemalan Flora Coffee Flavor Characteristics: Berry acidity, citrus, light chocolate, rich layers, smooth texture.

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Recommendations:

Regarding coffee brewing, FrontStreet Coffee has always believed that the freshness of coffee beans greatly affects the flavor of coffee. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee ships coffee beans roasted within 5 days. FrontStreet Coffee's roasting philosophy is "freshly roasted good coffee," ensuring that every customer who places an order receives the freshest coffee when it arrives. The coffee resting period is about 4-7 days, so when customers receive it, it's at its peak flavor.

For friends who need ground coffee, FrontStreet Coffee kindly reminds: if coffee beans are ground in advance, there's no need for a resting period, because during transportation, the pressure from carbon dioxide produced in the package can also make the coffee flavor more mellow, so you can immediately brew a cup when you receive the ground coffee. However, ground coffee needs to be brewed promptly, because ground coffee oxidizes relatively quickly after contact with air, meaning the coffee's flavor will dissipate relatively quickly, and the coffee's flavor won't be as good. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee recommends purchasing whole beans and grinding fresh before brewing to better taste the coffee's flavor.

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