Guatemala, Huehuetenango, Quetzal

This is a crowd pleasing coffee. Sweet and nutty, very much a "snickers" coffee; caramel, nuts & chocolate. 

We Taste: Milk Chocolate, amaretto, walnut, butter caramel. 

Origin: Guatemala

Region: Huehuetenango

Farm/Washing Station/Mill: Smallholder farms and producers

Variety: Bourbon, Catimor, Caturra, Maragogype, Pache

Altitude: 1400-2200 masl

Process Method: Washed and Floated

Roast level: Sweet Spot

Roasting Notes: A nice roast on a Guatemalan might be the first profile I loved in my roasting career. It was the light roasted Huehuetenango Guatemala Rio Azul at peace coffee that Roaster Ryan maintained. He was the drip coffee roaster expert when I started. I learned everything about roasting for drip in my early years at Peace from Ryan. This roast is very much an evolution of that roast. It is a standard dry phase for a washed central coffee of this size and density. The mid I extend slightly for increased mouthfeel and sweetness. Then I use a 2:30 development phase to a 60 on the SCA specialty roast scale. 

Sourcing Notes: Coming soon...

Coffee Info/Story: The Quetzal (the national bird of Guatemala) Program was born after the creation of “Regional Select - Waykan”, which was our way of highlighting the distinct regional differences we saw coming out of Guatemala. We heard from producers that they wanted to sell us more of their coffee, and Quetzal as a program allows us to buy more and pay more along the larger quality spectrum for high quality coffees from these hardworking men and women in Guatemala.

High-grown, hard-bean coffees from Guatemala are a staple offering for us as they are for many coffee roasters: The crisp acidity, full body, and toffee sweetness found in these coffees make them valuable as approachable and affordable single-origin brews, or as backbone blend components that layer nicely with more complex or fruitier complements.