How to Distinguish Between Bourbon and Caturra Coffee Beans Does Guatemala Antigua Flora Coffee Have Floral Notes

Latest News from Guatemala Coffee Growing Regions

According to Coffee Finance Network, 125,000 coffee-growing families in Guatemala are facing rising production costs due to climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic. The local coffee association chairman stated that current coffee prices are insufficient to maintain a low-cost living standard. Given the current situation, coffee beans from the new harvest season in Guatemala will be priced higher than previous seasons, exacerbating the local coffee crisis.

Antigua Coffee Growing Region

Antigua is a famous ancient city in Guatemala, Central America, built in the Panchoy Valley at an altitude of 1,500 meters. Surrounded by mountains and several volcanoes, it is located near the peaks of the Agua and Fuego volcanoes. The chain of volcanoes not only provides Antigua with beautiful scenery, but each eruption brings volcanic ash rich in minerals that covers the surrounding land, creating fertile growing conditions for plants and coffee trees.

Unique Taste Experience

During cupping sessions with multiple coffee beans from Guatemala's growing regions, FrontStreet Coffee was surprised by the smoky sensation. In coffee beans from other regions, this smoky feeling would likely be considered a defect by FrontStreet Coffee, as it can create a throat-catching sensation when drinking. However, Guatemalan coffee beans, even with this smoky quality, do not produce an unpleasant experience. On the contrary, this smoky characteristic brings a surprising dimension to Guatemalan coffee beans. The Flora De Dios coffee beans from La Minita Estate, discussed in this article by FrontStreet Coffee, offer a double surprise to the palate. Beyond the subtle smoky notes, these beans also deliver delicate white floral aromas, creating a sensation as surprising as finding a flower blooming in a volcanic landscape.

La Minita Estate is renowned for its excellent cultivation and processing techniques, as well as extremely strict quality control. They commission Las Pastores, the largest washed processing plant in Antigua, to handle their green beans to these standards. The coffee is named Flora De Dios, and in addition to preserving the original regional flavors, the dry aroma carries rich floral and tea notes. Upon entry, lemon acidity and berry flavors transform into a honey-like finish. Excellent cleanliness and rich layered complexity are the characteristics of this Flora De Dios coffee.

Coffee Bean Varieties

This Flora De Dios coffee uses Bourbon and Caturra varieties. Both varieties originate from the Bourbon lineage, and both beans have relatively round shapes.

However, distinguishing between these two varieties is not difficult. With careful observation, we can note that Caturra coffee beans have a slightly more curved tip than Bourbon beans—round yet slender. Both varieties typically offer excellent aroma, bright acidity, and juice-like qualities in their flavor profiles.

Coffee Bean Processing Method

The washed processing method involves placing selected coffee fruits into a depulper to initially remove the skin and pulp. The coffee beans with remaining mucilage are then placed in water for wet fermentation for approximately 18-36 hours. After fermentation, the parchment coffee beans are placed in flowing water channels to wash away the remaining pulp and mucilage.

After washing, the coffee beans are dried to reduce moisture content to approximately 12%, and finally the parchment is removed from the green beans. FrontStreet Coffee believes that the washed processing of Flora De Dios coffee results in cleaner, brighter acidity, brings out the freshness of white floral aromas, and softens the inherent smoky flavors of the coffee beans.

FrontStreet Coffee Roasting Record

Preheat the roaster to 200°C, load beans with damper at 3. After 30 seconds, reduce heat to 160°C, keeping damper unchanged. Return temperature at 1'36". Maintain heat until 4'50" when the bean surface turns yellow and grassy aroma completely disappears, entering the dehydration stage. Reduce heat to 140°C, adjust damper to 4.

At 4'50", dehydration is complete, reduce heat to 140°C. At 8'32", ugly wrinkles and black spots appear on the bean surface, and the toast aroma clearly transforms 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 (be very careful when adjusting heat—don't reduce it so much that cracking stops). Develop for 1'50" after first crack, then unload at 195.3°C.

FrontStreet Coffee Cupping Report

Dry Aroma: Berries, Caramel

Wet Aroma: Lemon, White Floral

Flavor: Lemon, Berries, White Floral, Chocolate, Nuts, Subtle Smoke

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Experience

Dripper: Hario V60

Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15 (15g coffee/225g water)

Water Temperature: 90°C

Grind Size: Between medium-fine and medium-coarse (77% retention rate on China standard #20 sieve)

FrontStreet Coffee's segmented extraction method: First, use 30g of water to thoroughly wet the coffee grounds, forming a "burger" shape for a 30-second bloom (if you don't see the "burger" shape, pay attention to whether the coffee beans lack freshness or are ground too coarsely).

Then proceed with the second brewing segment. At 54 seconds on the timer, pour water to reach 125g, then stop and wait for the water level to drop to 2/3 of the coffee bed before pouring the third segment (this segment extracts the sweet and sour flavor compounds from the coffee grounds). For the third segment, at 1'40" on the timer, pour water to reach 225g, with a total extraction time of 2'10" (this segment extracts the rich, mellow flavor compounds from the coffee grounds). After extraction is complete, gently swirl the coffee to ensure thorough mixing before tasting.

Brewing Flavor: At high temperature, bright lemon-like acidity enters the palate. As it gradually cools, juice-like mouthfeel reveals subtle white floral notes. Subsequently, cocoa and gentle smokiness add complexity to this coffee, while the caramel-like aftertaste provides a perfect conclusion to this cup.

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

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Tel:020 38364473