Characteristics of Guatemalan coffee beans how to drink Starbucks Guatemalan coffee beans

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The hard truth of Guatemalan coffee

Coffee, the main export of Guatemala, is even rated as the best coffee in Central America by coffee lovers because of its high quality, rich natural acid and balanced mellowness, overshadowing other coffee producing areas in Central America.

Guatemalan coffee has always been an introductory textbook for coffee beginners, because it is rich in flavor, not only with medium and multi-level acidity, as well as the unique sugar aroma of Central America, but also has a certain mellowness, for beginners, we can understand the sour, sweetness and taste of coffee through the balanced flavor of Guatemalan coffee.

Microclimate of Guatemala

Environmental conditions are the primary factor that determines the flavor of coffee. The reason why Guatemalan coffee can have such a rich flavor level depends on the changeable topography and climate of this area. Guatemala is full of volcanoes, and coffee trees are mostly planted on slopes more than 1000 meters, nourishing the soil with natural volcanic ash. About 98% of the coffee in Guatemala is grown in the shade. Coffee trees grow slowly in the shade of tall trees, and because of the large temperature difference between day and night, coffee beans are relatively solid in structure, smaller in fruit but fuller in sweetness.

There are eight famous producing areas in Guatemala, the most famous of which are Antigua and Vivette Nanguo. In addition to the rich sugar aroma and balanced mellowness of Guatemala, the coffee produced by Antigua is baptized by volcanic ash and has a light smoke aroma. As for the coffee grown in Vivette Nango, it has a bright acidity and wine aroma because it is blown by the dry and hot Mexican wind.

Coffee bean grading standard

The grading standards of boutique coffee vary all over the world. Guatemalan coffee beans are selected on the basis of planting altitude. The higher the altitude, the stronger the structure and hardness of coffee beans, and relatively better flavor performance, so SHB coffee beans (Strictly Hard Bean) with the highest hardness above 1500 meters (about 4500 feet) above sea level are regarded as the highest quality coffee in Guatemala.

As the coffee bean grading standard is adapted to local conditions, most coffee producing areas are graded according to the number of coffee beans, and the larger the particle size, the higher the grade. Almost in Africa and Asia, coffee beans are classified into AA, AB, PB and so on according to this standard, while in Guatemala, altitude is used as the standard to evaluate coffee quality.