Coffee World Map-Guatemala Flavor Characteristics, Growing Environment and Awards

Professional barista communication, please pay attention to coffee workshop (Weixin Official Accounts cafe_style )

"Guatemala" is a coffee friend's nickname for Guatemala. This Mayan city sits atop 37 volcanoes, two of which erupted in 2010. With frequent tornadoes and natural disasters everywhere, it is a veritable "dangerous place". However, fertile volcanic soil, undulating mountains and a variable microclimate are ideal conditions for growing coffee. As of 2011, Guatemala was the country with the highest coffee production in Central America.

Very hard beans, mild coffee. Best of the best.

In the past, importers divided coffee into two categories: Brazil and Mild. Brazilian coffee at that time was a negative example: mixed with unripe, overripe or defective beans, treated in unstable sunlight, the coffee produced was difficult to swallow and of poor quality. Guatemala, with its abundant water resources and mechanical technology from Germany, makes the advantages of washing treatment possible. Guatemala Strictly Hard Bean is the best of mild coffee.

The planting environment is changing

Coffee has been cultivated in Guatemala since around 1850. Before World War I, the Germans controlled up to 80% of the country's production, most of which was exported to Germany. ANACAFE, the official coffee farmers association, divided the country into eight regions in the 1990s based on geography and flavor, and promoted the origin of registered trademarks. These include Antigua, Acatenango, Huehuetenango and Atitlán, where many of the winning farms are located. Common bean varieties in Guatemala today include Typica, Bourbon, Caturra, Catuaí, Pacas, Maragogype, Pacamara (a mixture of the first two), Pache Comum (a local variant of Typica), and Gesha.

I have tried geisha coffee from different countries. A cup from Guatemala, from Acatenango. Because the taste is too unique, the characteristics of the place of origin are completely overshadowed. If the geisha show in Panama is a one-legged show, then Guatemala, which has a variety of planting environments, is a stage where different varieties bloom; Emerald Manor wins the championship with geisha, and Finca El Injerto (graft manor) in Guatemala.

Graft Manor Award Winning

Graft Manor Coffee has won the COE competition every year since 2004, and received the President's Class in 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2010 (i.e. total score of more than 90 points). However, unlike Jade Manor, which only competes with geisha, it competes with different bean seeds every year. Remember that in 2010, it won the title with 93.14 points for Pacamara species, which was rated as "low acid and light taste" at that time, and brought about the planting fever throughout Central America! So soil, climate and treatment are just as important as bean seed genes. Since 2011, Grafting, like Emerald Manor, has held its own auctions, including the rare ancient species Mocha, which sold for a record price of $550 per pound in 2012 and made headlines in The New York Times.

My shop is the first coffee shop in Hong Kong to participate in COE and win the bid successfully. Those interested in Guatemala's award-winning coffee may wish to try it.

Text: Patrick Tam (Knockbox owner of boutique coffee shop, accredited barista of American Fine Coffee Association and European Fine Coffee Association, CQI accredited cup tester of America, first Hong Kong judge of Cup of Excellence);