How Does the Honey Processed Geisha from Guatemala's New Oriente Region Perform?

FrontStreet Coffee: Guatemala New Oriental Geisha Coffee Beans

Country: Guatemala
Grade: SHB
Region: New Oriental Region
Altitude: 1500-2050 meters
Processing Method: Honey Process
Variety: Geisha
Flavor: Sweet Orange, Magnolia, Citrus, Toffee

New Oriental Region, Guatemala

Guatemala as a whole country is located in a tropical region. Its northern and eastern coastal plains have a tropical rainforest climate with annual rainfall of 2000-3000 millimeters. The southern mountainous region has a subtropical climate with annual rainfall of 500-1000 millimeters. The year is divided into wet and dry seasons, with May to October being the wet season and November to April of the following year being the dry season. It's worth noting that Guatemala has many volcanoes within its borders, meaning it has plenty of volcanic soil suitable for coffee cultivation! This is why coffee can become one of the main economic crops supporting the country.

All coffee in Guatemala is managed by the "Guatemala National Coffee Association" (Asociación Nacional del Café, abbreviated as Anacafé). The association was established in 1960 and divides Guatemala's coffee regions into eight areas based on coffee flavor and growing conditions: Antigua Classic, Huehuetenango, Rainforest Coban, Traditional Atitlan, Fraijanes Plateau, Volcanic San Marcos, Acatenango, and New Oriental. The one we're discussing today is the youngest among them - the "New Oriental Region."

New Oriental is the youngest coffee-producing region in Guatemala, with abundant rainfall throughout the year. Due to the high altitude, this area is often shrouded in mist formed by dense clouds descending, resulting in relatively short sunshine hours! In ancient times, New Oriental was a volcanic area, so the soil here is composed of metamorphic rocks with extremely rich minerals. It can be said that this place has very superior conditions for coffee cultivation. Therefore, the Geisha produced in this region not only has excellent genetics but also enjoys multiple advantages from its terroir, making its flavor truly remarkable!

Guatemala's Geisha

In 1931, Geisha was discovered in the Kaffa forests of Ethiopia. However, since coffee at that time emphasized quantity over quality, the lower-yielding Geisha had no value for people to explore, let alone receive attention! Thus, Geisha, which should have been pursued like gold, drifted for over 70 years.

In 1936, Geisha was introduced from Ethiopia to Uganda and Tanzania. In 1953, Geisha crossed from Africa to Costa Rica in Central America on the other side of the ocean. In 1970, Costa Rica's Geisha was brought to neighboring Panama. Then, the rise of the specialty coffee wave made people gradually focus on the flavor emitted by coffee itself. Everyone shifted from focusing on yield to focusing on quality, and Geisha finally began to have the opportunity to emerge from obscurity.

In 1990, when the Peterson family, owners of Hacienda La Esmeralda, were inspecting the damage caused by leaf rust disease, they discovered that the Geisha plants tucked away in the corner had not been significantly affected by leaf rust. So they immediately transplanted Geisha and other undamaged varieties to higher altitudes for mixed cultivation. Until 2003, they tasted a cup of coffee bursting with floral aroma through cupping. Besides that, it also had bright, rich layers and an overall very clean profile! They immediately investigated that batch of coffee beans, and after examining them one by one, they discovered that this amazing flavor came from the unassuming low-yield coffee plants! The stunned Esmeralda team immediately gave it a "separate villa" (Geisha plot), named it "Geisha" (the original Geisha was called T2722 variety), and entered it into the BOP competition.

In 2004, Hacienda La Esmeralda shattered people's misconceptions about Geisha. The reason was that Geisha overwhelmingly won the championship in the competition. It can be said that everyone present was stunned by Geisha's rich white floral aroma! If you had been at the scene at that time, you would have seen a group of judges frowning, repeatedly tasting a cup of coffee. Because they simply couldn't believe that Panama would have a bean that possessed both citrus-honey notes and such intense floral aroma, and crucially, it was very clean! You should know that coffee beans from Central and South America at that time were mainly nutty and cocoa-flavored, so they even thought someone had brought Yirgacheffe beans to substitute in the competition.

This move attracted countless countries to introduce it for local cultivation, and Guatemala was one of them! Therefore, what FrontStreet Coffee brings today is Geisha from the New Oriental region of Guatemala! We used a medium-light roast for it to better showcase the regional and Geisha characteristic flavors.

FrontStreet Coffee's Brewing Recommendations

Dripper: V60
Water Temperature: 92°C
Coffee Amount: 15g
Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15
Grind Size: Fine sugar size (sieve through #20 sieve to 80%)

Fold the filter paper to fit the dripper, wet it with a small amount of water to make it adhere better, and pour out the water from the lower pot. Then pour in the coffee grounds and tap gently to distribute the powder layer evenly. For the first pour, gently inject 30g of water for blooming, with a blooming time of 30 seconds. For the second pour, inject to about 135g of water, circling evenly and steadily outward. Then wait for the coffee liquid to drop, and when it drops to half, inject the final water to 225g. Wait for all the coffee to finish dripping. The total extraction time is generally around 2 minutes.

Brewing Performance

The initial sip reveals the traditional flavor of the Guatemala region - "sweet orange," with toffee sweetness and elegant white floral aroma. At medium to low temperatures, a distinct honey texture emerges, and the sweet orange transforms into bergamot with some acidity, giving the entire cup of coffee richer layered changes!

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