Guatemala Huehuetenango AguacatánCoffee Bean Intro:

Guatemala Huehuetenango Aguacatán Washed Bourbon Caturra

Guatemala Huehuetenango Agua Dulce

Coffee region: Huehuetenango

Planting altitude: 1500 meters

Coffee varieties: Bourbon, Caturra

Processing method: Washed process

Coffee region

The Huehuetenango region is located in the northwestern highlands of Guatemala and is renowned for producing high-quality beans. The coffee from this area features a rich and intense flavor profile with pronounced body, and smokiness is its most distinctive characteristic.

At higher altitudes, coffee plants grow more slowly, which is conducive to the accumulation of nutrients. However, if the altitude is too high, the low temperatures can cause frost damage, or even prevent the coffee trees from surviving.

Yet, coffee grown in Huehuetenango, even at elevations close to 2000 meters, rarely suffers from frost. This high yet mild growing environment produces premium strictly hard bean (SHB) coffee. This is largely thanks to the warm, dry air from the Mexican plains, which protects the coffee trees from frost.

Aguacatán is nestled among towering mountains and lush vegetation, and is known for producing mildly sweet coffee beans with flavors of cocoa, nuts, and cinnamon spices.

 Coffee varieties

The washed Aguacatán coffee is made from the Bourbon and Caturra varieties.

Bourbon is a mutation of Typica and, along with Typica, is one of the oldest existing coffee varieties. Its green cherries turn bright red when ripe.

Compared to Typica, Bourbon has wider leaves and denser growth. Although its yield is slightly higher than Typica, it still has a two-year harvest cycle, making it a low-yield variety. However, it offers excellent cup quality, with wine-like acidity and a sweet aftertaste.

The coffee beans are relatively large, uniform in size, and have a consistent, glossy color. To facilitate harvesting, farmers prune the coffee trees to a height of no more than 150 cm.

Caturra is an Arabica hybrid variety, a cross between Mundo Novo and Caturra. It has better resistance to natural disasters, especially wind and rain. It inherits the low-tree advantage of Caturra while addressing the shortcomings of Mundo Novo.

Another advantage is its firm fruit set, which is less prone to dropping in strong winds, overcoming the fragility of Arabica cherries. However, its overall flavor profile is less complex compared to Caturra and lacks the body of Mundo Novo, which is its biggest drawback.

Additionally, its fruit development and harvest lifespan is only about ten years, which is another weakness.

Processing method

This Guatemala coffee is processed using the washed method. Due to the abundance of rivers and lakes in Guatemala, the Huehuetenango region has rich mountainous terrain and water resources, a dry climate but ample water supply, along with well-developed water infrastructure. As a result, coffee in this area is mostly processed using the washed method.

After harvesting, the coffee cherries are immediately sent to washing stations for processing. The cherries are first manually sorted or floated to remove underripe, low-density cherries and impurities.

Next, the cherries are fed into machines to remove the pulp and skin. The depulped beans are then placed in fermentation tanks, where microbes break down and remove the mucilage. The fermented beans are washed with clean water to remove the loosened mucilage layer.

The cleaned beans are transferred to drying patios for drying, and their moisture content is ultimately reduced to around 11%. The dried beans are stored in warehouses until just before export, when they undergo hulling.

Roasting curve