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2004 - 2004 Sweet Maria's Coffee Cupping Reviews Archive: G - K
Guatemala 
Guatemala Organic Coban -El Tirol Estate (Aurora Lot)
Country: Guatemala Grade: SHB Region: Alta Verapaz, Coban Mark: Finca El Tirol
Processing: Wet-processed Crop: Early November 2005 Arrival Appearance: 0 d/300gr, 16-17 Screen Varietal: Bourbon, Caturra, Red Catuai
Dry Fragrance (1-5) 3.5 Notes: Coban has everything going for it, except the rain. Ask anyone who has traveled in Guatemala about Coban, and superlatives about the lush cloud-forests and extraordinary wildlife will follor. But Coban is an incredibly rainy environment year-round, rain being a big problem for the patio-drying of coffee. Coffee also benefits from a dry season in the yearly cycle of growth for the coffee tree, and growing coffee in a wet environment takes more care, more pruining, and more knowledge to avoid fungi and plant disease. Coban coffees have historically been tainted in the processing, tinged with wild slightly moldy flavors. Furthermore, Coban is also a remote (and lush, and beautiful) area, remote in terms of transporting coffee to the port, far away from the capital Guatemala City. Great coffee can be ruined in so many ways, and I think that's what happens to carelessly-processed Cobans. El Tirol is something different. It's actually a pair of sister farms, El Tirol proper and Aurora, located in the Alta Verapaz department of Coban. The average altitude of the Alta Verapaz zone is 5000+ feet, and rainfall is 2,500 millimeters distributed evenly throughout the year. (That's 98.42 inches per year, Gringo!) El Tirol Estate processes all the coffee for both farms from start to finish. That means they control the quality of their coffee from start to finish without intervention; a good thing. The coffee must be mechanically dried (you just can't patio dry in Coban without ruining coffee). The cup ... aromatically sweet, sweet spice, fruited (slightly winey fruit), lighter body (heavier as cup cools), and the fruited aromas follow through in the cup flavors. There's good intensity in the finish, a lot of "follow through" on the palate which shifts from sweet fruit to milk chocolate, with a hint of pleasant smokiness in the finish. It's hard for me to pin down the fruit; in one cupping is was like the cherry of the coffee tree itself, and next time it was Fruit Loopy (not artificial-tasting though!), a combination of tropical fruit. There's a more pungent, bitter chocolate to the cup which develops around Full City+ roast stage if you prefer a darker roast "interpretation" and a good "rounded" cup profile in the dark stages too. I cupped this against four other Organic Guatemalas in the same offering (La Laguna, Bella Cruz, Nueva Armenia, as well as 2 from San Marcos area) and it came out as the strong front runner. This lot is a special late crop harvest, our 2nd lot of El Tirol of the year. In other words, we are not selling old coffee from early in the season! The Aurora Lot, as they call it, cupped out really well, fresh, fruited, and will hold its chracter without traces of old, baggy flavors through new crop 2006 (May-June arrivals).
Wet Aroma (1-5) 3.6
Brightness - Acidity (1-10) 8.7
Flavor - Depth (1-10) 8.8
Body - Movement (1-5) 3
Finish - Aftertaste (1-10) 8.8
Cupper's Correction (1-5) 0.5 Intensity/Prime Attribute: Mild - Medium Intensity/ Fruited
add 50 50 Roast: City+/ Full City+. A versitile coffee for sure, it can be kept quite light (even City) or taken into the 2nd a little bit.
Score (Max. 100) 86.9 Compare to: Coban is unique among Guatemalan coffees for the quality of the fruited flavors and secondary flavor subtleties.
Guatemala Barillas - Nuevo Bullaj Coop
Country: Guatemala Grade: SHB Region: Nuevo Bullaj, Barillas (N. Huehuetenango) Mark: Coop Nuevo Bullaj
Processing: Wet-processed Crop: October 2004 Arrival Appearance: 0 d/300gr, 16-17 Screen Varietal: Bourbon, Caturra, Red Catuai
Dry Fragrance (1-5) 3.8 Notes: Barillas is a town I visited some time ago, a northern agriculture center for Huehuetenango where the Asobagri coop is located. This coffee is from a new and unique coop from the Nuevo Bullaj area. Their story is rather tragic - their town was a target of right wing paramilitary during the civil war which was especially intense in the '80s and lasted until '96, and many of the adults were masacred. The rest fled with the children across the border into the state of Chiapas, Mexico, and formed an agricultural co-op. After the civil war, the co-op migrated back to their old town of Nuevo Bullaj to reclaim their coffee lands. Most of these people were the adult children who had lost their parents. Anyway, this is the way that the stories of other peoples lives are intertwined with the cup of coffee we enjoy. And speaking of that, I think this is a fantastic Guatemalan cup: it has sweet and piquant vanilla/caramel aromatics. It has a fairly light body, but a buttery quality to the mouthfeel nonetheless. There are floral accents to the cup flavors, a bit of butterscotch, and a crisp (but not tart) brightness that punctuates the finish. The cup is really delightful. I want to call it "melodic" but hesitate because you can't smell or taste "melodic" ... but you know what I mean. It just seems to play a nice, sweet little jingle on the palate. As it cools it becomes a bit tangy with a milk chocolate bittersweet, but overall this has very clear, clean cup flavors. It's a flavor profile that rings like a bell...
Wet Aroma (1-5) 4
Brightness - Acidity (1-10) 8.8
Flavor - Depth (1-10) 8.8
Body - Movement (1-5) 3.1
Finish - Aftertaste (1-10) 8.5
Cupper's Correction (1-5) 0 Intensity/Prime Attribute: Mild intensity / Great piquant, nippy, sweet cup
add 50 50 Roast: City or City+ is my favorite but this may be too bright for some folks. This coffee is awesome at Full City+ too - really, it takes a very wide range of roasts.
Score (Max. 100) 87 Compare to: A refined, clean cup profile, - just an excellent Central American coffee!
Guatemala Huehuetenango WP Decaf
Country: Guatemala Grade: SHB Region: Huehuetenango Mark: MAM 
Processing: Wet Process Crop: DEC 2004 Arrival Appearance: 0 d/300gr, 17 screen Varietal: Typica, Caturra, Catuai
Dry Fragrance (1-5) 3 Notes: The advantage of knowing exactly what coffee goes into your decaf is great, and surprisingly rare because a lot of decafs are sold simply with an origin name, and not even a regional designation to boot. But with this Guatemalan we know the exact region (Huehuetenango) and cup quality prior to decaffeination. More remarkable is the cup after decaffeinating. It's great! I am astounded and a little bewildered by this: I regularly cupped the Central American coffees that had undergone the SWP process in Vancouver, Canada. They had little to no brightness of the original coffee in the cup, and since that's what Centrals are about, no brightness means no origin character (well... it means a huge part of what the Guatemalan coffee is about has been removed. Props to SWP who has made great strides forward in improving technique in the last 2 years too.) Here we have a cup with remarkable brightness intact after the decaf process. And it is a non-contact, non-chemical water process decaf to boot. It has a backdrop of almond in the roast taste to balance out the cup. It is a lighter-bodied cup with short, pleasant aftertaste. But it's all about the bright notes in the cup, and this one has them. Simply incredible decaf for an indirect-contact, non-chemical decaf method.
Wet Aroma (1-5) 3.3
Brightness - Acidity (1-10) 8.6
Flavor - Depth (1-10) 8.4
Body - Mouthfeel (1-5) 2.8
Finish - Aftertaste (1-10) 8.5
Cupper's Correction (1-5) 0 Intensity/Prime Attribute: Mild intensity / Bright, high-toned Guatemala character
add 50 50 Roast: I had very good roasts at City+
Score (Max. 100) 84.6 Compare to: A bright Guatemalan SHB (Strictly Hard Bean) coffee
Guatemala Organic Coban -El Tirol Estate
Country: Guatemala Grade: SHB Region: Alta Verapaz, Coban Mark: Finca El Tirol
Processing: Wet-processed Crop: July 2004 Arrival Appearance: 0 d/300gr, 16-17 Screen Varietal: Bourbon, Caturra, Red Catuai
Dry Fragrance (1-5) 3.5 Notes: Coban has everything going for it, except the rain. Ask anyone who has traveled in Guatemala about Coban, and superlatives about the lush cloud-forests and extraordinary wildlife will follow. But Coban is an incredibly rainy environment year-round, rain being a big problem for the patio-drying of coffee. Coffee also benefits from a dry season in the yearly cycle of growth for the coffee tree, and growing coffee in a wet environment takes more care, more pruning, and more knowledge to avoid fungi and plant disease. Coban coffees have historically been tainted in the processing, tinged with wild slightly moldy flavors. Furthermore, Coban is also a remote (and lush, and beautiful) area, remote in terms of transporting coffee to the port, far away from the capital Guatemala City. Great coffee can be ruined in so many ways, and I think that's what happens to carelessly-processed Cobans. El Tirol is something different. It's actually a pair of sister farms, El Tirol proper and Aurora, located in the Alta Verapaz department of Coban. The average altitude of the Alta Verapaz zone is 5000+ feet, and rainfall is 2,500 millimeters distributed evenly throughout the year. (That's 98.42 inches per year, Gringo!) El Tirol Estate processes all the coffee for both farms from start to finish. That means they control the quality of their coffee from start to finish without intervention; a good thing. The coffee must be mechanically dried (you just can't patio dry in Coban without ruining coffee). The cup ... Aromatically fruited. This received incredibly high marks at a group cupping with a bunch of other coffee people (9.25 on their 10 point scale) and the common remark was "fruit loops!" Indeed it has a real burst of clean tropical fruit, and for those who know the Coban cup character, it's the clean quality that is impressive! The aftertaste is a bit short, but for aroma and flavor this coffee is incredibly impressive, with Dutch cocoa flavors in the secondary flavor level, and a darker hazelnut hints. I get a pleasant smokiness in the finish too.
Wet Aroma (1-5) 3.2
Brightness - Acidity (1-10) 9
Flavor - Depth (1-10) 9
Body - Movement (1-5) 3.6
Finish - Aftertaste (1-10) 8.6
Cupper's Correction (1-5) 0 Roast: This can take a wide range between City + and Full City ++, a bit into 2nd crack. The character really holds up throughout the roast range, and good chocolate notes develop a bit into 2nd with some muting of the fruit and acids.
Add 50 50 Compare to: Full-flavor Guatemalan, cleanly fruited, balanced.
Score (Max. 100) 86.9
Guatemala Atitlan -Santo Tomas Pachuj
Country: Guatemala Grade: SHB Region: Lake Atitlan Mark: Finca Santo Tomas Pachuj,
ECO-OK certified
Processing: Wet-processed Crop: September 2004 Arrival Appearance: 0 d/300gr, 16-17 Screen Varietal: Bourbon, Caturra, Red Catuai
Dry Fragrance (1-5) 3.8 Notes: Finca Santo Tomas Pachuj is located in the southeast side of Lake Atitlan - a truly breathtaking area in the shadows of Volcan Toliman. The farm ranges from 5,200 and 7,000 feet. We haven't stocked an Atitlan coffee for 2 years now, for no specific reason except that our sole contact there (La Voz) wasn't as impressive as it had been. The Santo Tomas howver is quite impressive, a sweet, lively cup! The finca is also a model of ecologic conservation and social responsibility; it has the Rainforest Alliance Eco-OK certificate. This is a innovative certification that covers a broad range of sustainable cultivation issues, allowing for no herbicides or pesticides until absolutely no other option is available. Until then, it is basically Organic farming practice. The Santo Tomas mill uses 5% of the water during wet-processing that traditional mills use, protecting the water supply from overuse and contamination with coffee pulp. The finca grows traditional herbs for medicinal purposes, this increases the variety of flora on the land. The natural medicines generate additional income and the 15 varieties of bamboo create more diversity among the trees on the farm. 60% of the farm is left as natural forest reserve. The reserve on the land creates a completely natural space for the wildlife to flourish, and increases the impact of the shade and natural techniques used on the farm. In terms of the treatment of the transient coffee pickers employed by the finca, they are paid a premium at this farm for the volume of red, ripe coffee cherry they pick to avoid green, immature fruit. This is a huge boost to quality in the cup, and quality of life for the pickers. This coffee has a very balanced flavor profile with acidity in good proportion to the overall cup character, and a nice buttery body. I cupped in on roasts between City+ and Full City+. On the darker end of the spectrum a nice dimension opens up between the brighter accents in the flavor and the deepening roast tastes. A dark malty sweetness emerges in the finish with spicey accents; just a touch of clove. A lighter touch on the roast, City+, results in a shift toward the sunshine with a little loss in depth/complexity. The cup has a crisp spiciness, caramel roast notes, and very nice apple/floral flavors. I like this more active lighter roast; it's a lively cup that doesn't lose intensity. But in either case, the cup is a standout among coffees from the region.
Wet Aroma (1-5) 4
Brightness - Acidity (1-10) 8.7
Flavor - Depth (1-10) 8.8
Body - Movement (1-5) 3.3
Finish - Aftertaste (1-10) 8.5
Cupper's Correction (1-5) 0 Intensity/Prime Attribute: Mild intensity / Delightful, piquant, sweet cup
add 50 50 Roast: City or City+ is preferred - it’s a shame to overwrite these "origin flavors" with too much "roast taste". Best to let the coffee speak for itself, so keep this one lighter.
Score (Max. 100) 87.1 Compare to: A refined, clean cup profile, mild overall, delicate - just an excellent Central American coffee!
Guatemala HHT Huehuetenango San Vicente
Country: Guatemala Grade: SHB Region: La Libertad, Huehuetenango Mark: Finca San Vicente
Processing: Wet-processed Crop: August 2004 Arrival Appearance: 0 d/300gr, 18 Screen Varietal: Bourbon, Caturra, Red Catuai
Dry Fragrance (1-5) 3.5 Notes: San Vicente estate is located in the Cuchumatanes mountain range of Huehuetenango, in a microclimate near La Libertad. The farm is quite small, 100 Hectares of coffee and 50 Hectares of forest preserve, at 1300 to 1600 meters in altitude. The microregion has some special climactic conditions with higher humidity than other coffee regions in Huehuetenango. The area is topographically rugged, very steep, has clay soils. Other factors that influence the cup are the cultivar: while the farm has Catuai and Caturra cultivars, this lot is exclusively the traditional Bourbon varietal, and is from the higher altitudes on the farm. The result is a very hard bean coffee, physically dense, from slower/later-maturing trees. All this is great pedigree for cup quality. You can observe the density of the coffee by checking the amount the "crease" in the coffee opens during roasting, and ancillary cracks that come off of it. A more open crease with offshooting cracks means softer, lower-grown coffees. Compare a San Vicente seed to an origin that has lower altitudes, like Brazil, or an Island coffee... interesting! Now, add to the density and altitude a special preparation ... we had this coffee delivered to Antigua Guatemala, to the Los Pastores mill, for additional hand preparation to remove any possible defective beans. Okay, what is the final result of all these factors? It is a very clean cup, sharply aromatic, and a cup profile that (more than any other coffee I can recall) tastes like the cultivar - like Bourbon coffee. (BTW, this is pronounced BUR-BONE, not like the alcohol). It's what people in coffee called "good transparency" and in wine they talk about "terroir" - tasting the soil, the varietal, the beverage as a pure result of the place it came from. It is a bright cup with crisp acidity, backed by vanilla hints, and even on my lighter roasts I get quite a lot of body. I would call this coffee the epitome of a "classic" cup profile. It doesn't have the odd quirks of a fruity Harar, the earth of a Sumatra - it is the traditional, prized "clean cup". When I enjoy this coffee, I can't help but think (from my experience on the international cupping juries) that this is the coffee the Japanese judges go ape over. "Clean, sweet, very good for Japanese market," I can hear Mr. Hayashi saying...

Water reclamation pond at Finca San Vicente, Huehuetenango, Guatemala
Wet Aroma (1-5) 3.2
Brightness - Acidity (1-10) 8.8
Flavor - Depth (1-10) 8.3
Body - Movement (1-5) 3.6
Finish - Aftertaste (1-10) 8.4
Cupper's Correction (1-5) 1 Intensity/Prime Attribute: Mild to Medium intensity / Classic profile, "clean cup"
add 50 50 Roast: This can take a wide range between City + and Full City ++, a bit into 2nd crack. The character really holds up throughout the roast range, and good chocolate notes develop a bit into 2nd with some muting of the fruit and acids.
Score (Max. 100) 86.8 Compare to: Classic Guatemalan!
Guatemalan Huehuetenango Huixoc -Lot 6468
Country: Guatemala Grade: SHB Region: Huehuetenango Mark: Finca Huixoc
Processing: Wet-processed Crop: Late May 2004 Arrival Appearance: .6 d/300gr, 17/18 Screen Varietal: Bourbon, Caturra, Catuaí
Dry Fragrance (1-5) 4.0 Notes: Huixoc was the first farm in Huehuetenango that really knocked me over; this incredible bright cup, cleanly fruited, tangy, sweet. Then there was a dry spell for a couple years where (I suspect) the best lots, the mid-cop "heart of the harvest" lots, were pre-sold to larger roasters by the container. This year, I cupped 3 lots of Huixoc; the first was an early arrival and was a disappointment. The last was a nice cup, but was missing the nippy, bright note. It was this lot, the 6468, that was "it". In the lighter roasts it is floral, with starfruit and peach flavor in the cup, mild chocolate aromatics, and a silky body. As the roast progresses, I am so impressed with the tangy bittersweet chocolate that emerges, especially a few snaps into 2nd crack. You can see as it roasts (by the tight crevice in the bean that remains closed, by the smaller amount of bean expansion) that it is a very dense coffee seed, hinting at the high altitudes of the farm. In fact, I spent an afternoon at Finca Huixoc and the neighboring farm, EL Injertal, a while back. It is a beautiful West-facing slope as you can see in the picture, truly ideal coffee terrain! PS: the 6468 lot actually had a few broca-damaged seeds in it, compared to the last Huixoc sample, but the cup was far superior. You can cull the 1 or 2 broken beans out either pre- or post- roast. This is another case where "eye-cupping" the green coffee would lead a buyer to purchase the wrong lot!
This is a picture I took of Finca Huixoc from the hill as we left the farm; we're talking serious altitude here...
Wet Aroma (1-5) 3.5
Brightness - Acidity (1-10) 8.8
Flavor - Depth (1-10) 9.0
Body - Movement (1-5) 2.8
Finish - Aftertaste (1-10) 9.0
Cupper's Correction (1-5) 0.0 Roast: City Roast, or go for the tangy bittersweet of a Full City+
add 50 50 Compare to: The bright and delicate acidity of a lighter roast reminds of this coffee from last year, but at Full City it is more sharply chocolatey and bittersweet.
Score (Max. 100) 87
Guatemalan Antigua -Los Pastores Mill
Country: Guatemala Grade: SHB Region: Antigua Mark: Los Pastores Beneficio
Processing: Wet-processed Crop: April 2004 Arrival Appearance: .1 d/300gr, 16-17 scr Varietal: Typica
Dry Fragrance (1-5) 3.5

Notes: So far it's been hard to find a good Antigua this year ... of course it is early in the season but some of the better farms haven't been shipping great stuff in their first lots. While the most high profile region from Guatemala, the anticipated quality seems a little lower in general sometimes. That doesnt mean there isn't great Antigua coffee out there, it just means you have search harder to find it. Los Pastores is a large mill in Antigua that is known for its great quality, not just quantity. (In fact, they will be doing a special preparation for us of a Huehue. coffee later in the season! This is also the same mill where the Flor de Cafe Antigua is prepared.) Many of the Antiguas that come through are small farms that have to be consolidated with others to form shippable lots; the farms by themselves are just too small. Pastores does a good job of this, actually blending complimentary lots to achieve a particular cup profile, as a vintner would do. But still there are Antiguas from this and other mills that are a bit flat; you cannot buy coffee by the Antigua name and expect cup quality - those days are gone. Unfortunately, people do, and this has lead to a watering-down of the name and its corresponding cup quality. But this lot reference #6935 was really good. It is a balanced mid-range to bass-note cup, with a good chocolate tang in the roast taste, and a dominant licorice/anise flavor throughout the range. There are also floral aromatics, but they shift to the background as the roast darkens and are gone as the coffee is roasted into 2nd crack too much. The aromatics are still sweet, but (as is the character of Antigua) this is not a sweet cup in the mouth, rather tangy and bittersweet. I have 2 roast "interpretations" of this coffee I like (see below) and it is also great as the "aromatic" component of espresso blends in the 10-25 % range!
Wet Aroma (1-5) 3.5
Brightness - Acidity (1-10) 8.0
Flavor - Depth (1-10) 8.8
Body - Movement (1-5) 3.5
Finish - Aftertaste (1-10) 8.0 Intensity/Prime Attribute : Medium/midrange balance and licorice notes.
Cupper's Correction (1-5) 1.0 Roast: City or Full City+. I like this coffee roasted very light, then rested 2-3 days. At this stage you maximize the subtle floral notes. On the other hand, I like this coffee roasted to a Full City+, where it becomes more low-toned, pungent, and the black licorice is highlighted.
add 50 50 Compare to: Other Antiguas, which are in general not fruity like Huehuetenango, and not as sweet as other Guatemalan appellations but have that nice depth and great balance.
Score (Max. 100) 86.3
Guatemala Fraijanes -Palo Alto Azul
Country: Guatemala Grade: SHB Region: Fraijanes Mark: Palo Alto Azul
Processing: Wet Process Crop: Late April 2004 Arrival Appearance: .2 d/300gr, 17-18 screen Varietal: Bourbon, Typica, Catuai
Dry Fragrance (1-5) 3.2 Notes: Fraijanes is a fairly large growing region to the South and East (slightly) of Guatemala City, and it is sort of a "hit and miss" region in terms of cup quality. We have stocked excellent Fraijanes coffees in the past years, but I have cupped a lot of so-so Fraijanes too. One problem is that there are some lower grown coffees in the region; another reason you can't simply buy coffees based on their regional designation. The fact is that within a growing region, the majority of the land under cultivation is not ideal for coffee. Possibly as little as 15% of the coffee land in a region is going to be capable of producing really great coffee. The other problem is that there is a bit of a smuggling problem with coffees from the South of Guatemala: much of this "Guatemala" coffee is actually from Honduras, brought across the border from the Copan and Ocotopeque regions because of low prices in that country. Okay, so I have covered the "cons" of Fraijanes, now here is the positives, and namely, this spriest lot of coffee, Palo Alto Azul. This sample sort of arrived unannounced but it was heads and tails above the rest on the table, which included a very respected Antigua former Cup of Excellence winner! And the aromatics belong to that of the classic Antigua cup profile, laced with milk chocolate, vanilla, and nuts. It amounts to something I can only clumsily describe as "delicious coffee aroma, " but I think you will see what I mean when you smell it! The acidity is impressive and not too high-toned or shrill, and it perfectly punctuates fairly luxurious, creamy-custard body (honestly, there's the combination of cup flavors and body was reminding me of the desert flan in the first cupping round!). I wouldn't call this an overly sweet cup, but an interesting on-the-fence profile between sweet and bittersweet. The aftertaste is fairly short ... but doesn't make me want to shave a point at all, it's just too good of a cup while it lasts.
Wet Aroma (1-5) 3.6
Brightness - Acidity (1-10) 8.5
Flavor - Depth (1-10) 8.6
Body - Movement (1-5) 3.7
Finish - Aftertaste (1-10) 8.6
Cupper's Correction (1-5) 0.5 Intensity/Prime Attribute: Medium intensity / Amazing balance and body
add 50 50 Roast: I had very good roasts at City+ and Full City+; going darker did not seem to diminish the body at all, and simply made the coffee more bittersweet.
Score (Max. 100) 86.7 Compare to: This is top coffee from the Fraijanes region and is most similar to the Antiguas, than to the Cobans or Huehuetenango coffees.
Guatemalan Antigua -La Flor del Café
Country: Guatemala Grade: SHB Region: Antigua Mark: La Flor del Café
Processing: Wet-processed Crop: Late May 2004 Arrival Appearance: 0 d/300gr, 17+ Screen Varietal: Typica, Bourbon
Dry Fragrance (1-5) 3.3 Notes: For me, this coffee is a refreshing relief in more than one way. Everyone knows about Antigua coffees from Guatemala (just as everyone talks only about Tarrazu when you mention Costa Rican coffee). But what a bunch of crappy coffees are out there being sold under the Antigua name! (and in fact there is a move to make the Antigua name a strictly certified appellation). But even among the known true Antiguas, the cup simply does not often support the reputation. As a cupper, I have simply stopped trying to find good Antiguas because the other growing regions (Fraijanes, Huehuetenango, Oriente and Coban are at the top of my list) are producing great coffees that are more like the true Antiguas of my early roasting days than most samples I receive labeled Antigua. My last hope was this coffee offered here, a sample arrived from the importers at La Minita, and I tasted an Antigua cup that was truly inspiring, unique, vibrant, bright, and would give me something to appease all the emails we get wondering why we don't have an Antigua! This is a trade name coffee from the Las Pastores beneficio (mill), chosen from many small farm lots by the cupping team at La Minita, featuring the outstanding cupper Sergio Cruz. The milling of the coffee is done under the guidance of the same team to exacting standards, and the preparation and cup quality of this coffee bear it out. It's aromas are toasty and sweet, the first sip is softly fruited, and very floral (hence the name)! The roast tastes are soft milk-chocolate tones paired with a really velvety mouthfeel. As the cup cools, the brightness peaks in a tangerine sweetness. In other words, it really is a great coffee from Antigua.
Wet Aroma (1-5) 2.9
Brightness - Acidity (1-10) 8.8
Flavor - Depth (1-10) 8.7
Body - Movement (1-5) 4.0
Finish - Aftertaste (1-10) 9.0
Cupper's Correction (1-5) 0.0 Intensity/Prime Attribute: Mild intensity / Delicate acidity, milk chocolate roast tastes, clean cup 
Add 50 50.0 Roast: My favorite: a lighter City roast stopped before 2nd crack, but at a point where the roast has fully developed and there is no "wrinkly" surface to the seed.
Score (Max. 100) 86.7 Compare to: Bright, balanced, clean milk chocolate roast taste: classic Antigua.
Guatemala Organic Coban -El Tirol Estate
Country: Guatemala Grade: SHB Region: Alta Verapaz, Coban Mark:

Finca El Tirol

Processing: Wet-processed Crop: 2003 Appearance: 0 d/300gr, 16-17 Screen Varietal: Bourbon, Caturra, Red Catuai
Dry Fragrance (1-5) 3.5 Notes: Coban has everything going for it, except the rain. Ask anyone who has traveled in Guatemala about Coban, and superlatives about the lush cloud-forests and extraordinary wildlife will follor. But Coban is an incredibly rainy environment year-round, rain being a big problem for the patio-drying of coffee. Coffee also benefits from a dry season in the yearly cycle of growth for the coffee tree, and growing coffee in a wet environment takes more care, more pruining, and more knowledge to avoid fungi and plant disease. Coban coffees have historically been tainted in the processing, tinged with wild slightly moldy flavors. Furthermore, Coban is also a remote (and lush, and beautiful) area, remote in terms of transporting coffee to the port, far away from the capital Guatemala City. Great coffee can be ruined in so many ways, and I think that's what happens to carelessly-processed Cobans. El Tirol is something different. It's actually a pair of sister farms, El Tirol proper and Aurora, located in the Alta Verapaz department of Coban. The average altitude of the Alta Verapaz zone is 5000+ feet, and rainfall is 2,500 millimeters distributed evenly throughout the year. (That's 98.42 inches per year, Gringo!) El Tirol Estate processes all the coffee for both farms from start to finish. That means they control the quality of their coffee from start to finish without intervention; a good thing. The coffee must be mechanically dried (you just can't patio dry in Coban without ruining coffee). The cup ... Aromatically fruited. This received incredibly high marks at a group cupping with a bunch of other coffee people (9.25 on their 10 point scale) and the common remark was "fruit loops!" Indeed it has a real burst of clean tropical fruit, and for those who know the Coban cup character, it's the clean quality that is impressive! The aftertaste is a bit short, but for aroma and flavor this coffee is incredibly impressive, with Dutch cocoa flavors in the secondary flavor level, and a darker hazelnut hints. Note 3/20/04: With new crop coming you would expect the El Tirol to be a little tired in the cup. It is anything but that! I roasted it in the Probat this week and the cup is fantastic. It's just a testament to how good this coffee is, and with what care it was processed at the El Tirol mill. I hope we can get this coffee again next year!-Tom
Wet Aroma (1-5) 3.2
Brightness - Acidity (1-10) 9
Flavor - Depth (1-10) 9
Body - Movement (1-5) 3.6
Finish - Aftertaste (1-10) 8.6
Cupper's Correction (1-5) 0 Roast: This can take a wide range between City + and Full City ++, a bit into 2nd crack. The character really holds up throughout the roast range, and good chocolate notes develop a bit into 2nd with some muting of the fruit and acids.
add 50 50 Compare to: Full-flavor Guatemalan! Between a Huehuetenango (fruited) and an Antigua in character.
Score (Max. 100) 86.9 Intensity/Prime Attribute: Medium / brightness, clean fruit
Guatemala Huehuetenango -La Maravilla
Country: Guatemala Grade: SHB Region: La Democracia, Huehuetenango Mark: Finca La Maravilla 
Processing: Wet-processed Crop: 2003 Appearance: 0 d/300gr, 15-18 Screen Varietal: Caturra, Typica
Dry Fragrance (1-5) 3.5 Notes: La Maravilla is a farm we have not carried before, but Huehuetenango is a coffee-growing region of Northern Guatemala that we can't get enough of! Huehue. is still underappreciated for the range of cup characters, usually with a more fruited profile than the Antiguas. And within Huehue there are many subregions with distinct cup profiles. La Democracia is one of them, and that is where both El Injerto and La Maravilla are situated. When I received this sample it was more of a burden than a blessing: we had already bought all the mid-crop Guatemalans I needed for the year and I didn't want to re-roast all the Guat.s for a comparative cupping. But I did and I am glad. This cup is bright, and if that is not apparent at first, you will realize the high acidity as the cup cools. This gives it a real lively cup character, tangy and in lighter roasts the fruitiness is like barely ripe mango. Behind the brightness and fruit is an almondy nuttiness with a bit of unsweetened Dutch cocoa. It sounds like an odd combination of flavors but somehow it spins itself into a really cohesive taste profile. I all, this is not a sweet cup and leaves me with a chocolate aftertaste as if I had tasted unsweetened cocoa powder. (I remember what a shock it was as a kid to learn that the Hershey's cocoa powder my mom kept in the kitchen was not like like eating a package of instant cocoa, like Swiss Miss.) But despite childhood trauma, this time the unsweetened cocoa taste comes off as a good thing! This coffee is not screened for seed size as much as other Guat.s, so the presence of some small seeds might cause problems in the Alpenrost (not with any other roasters though).
Wet Aroma (1-5) 3.2
Brightness - Acidity (1-10) 9
Flavor - Depth (1-10) 8.5
Body - Movement (1-5) 3.2
Finish - Aftertaste (1-10) 8.6
Cupper's Correction (1-5) 1 Roast: This can take a wide range between City + and Full City ++, a bit into 2nd crack. The character really holds up throughout the roast range, and good chocolate notes develop a bit into 2nd with some muting of the fruit and acids.
add 50 50 Compare to: Full-flavor Guatemalan, this is a bright and lively cup, and reminds me of the brighter Huixoc of 2 years ago.
Score (Max. 100) 87 Intensity/Prime Attribute: Mild to Medium / balance and brightness

Guatemala Antigua -Filadelfia Estate

Note: we have had some disappointment with the cup quality of 2004 Filadelfia samples so far; we may not be stocking this coffee this season -Tom
Country: Guatemala Grade: SHB Region: Antigua Mark:

Filadelfia Estate, Certified Antigua
Processing: Wet-processed Crop: Late 2003 arrival Appearance: 0 d/300gr, 17-18 Screen Varietal: Typica
Dry Fragrance (1-5) 3.4 Notes: Filadelfia - the coffee of brotherly love? The farm has a lot of history. It is one of the oldest in Antigua, part of the early land reforms of the 19th century, founded by Mañuel Matheu Ariza, and developed mostly by his daughter Elisa Matheu Cofiño de Dalton, who passed recently in 2000. The plantation endured revolutions, devastating earthquakes and a series of severe frosts that destroyed Antigua's entire coffee crop twice, in 1881 and 1885. The farm also benefited from the rich soil fed by the ashes of the very volcanoes that caused destruction in the adjacent colonial town of Antigua. The temperate climate and high elevations in Antigua help coffee cherry to mature very slowly; Filadelfia ranges from 5150 feet up to the rugged heights, over 6,500 feet, that give the coffee its character. This is a sun-dried coffee that undergoes extra hand-sorting beyond Euro-Prep standards. And it has been consistently a complex and intrguing cup. It was in the top ten of the 2001 and 2002 Guatemala Cup of Excellence! (For me, the significance of a coffee placing in the auction for 2 years is monumental ... and if the 2003 auction had not been canceled I am sure it would be 3 years in a row). The cup is true to the Antigua cup character. This is prototypical Antigua- not sweet or fruited as Huehuetenangos or Cobans, but a compact flavor profile, bittersweet! And I hate to admit this, but there is something in the bright end of this cup, in the quality of the acidity, that actually does remind me of the compactness and sourness of cream cheese. That neither sounds appropriate for a great coffee like this, an implies that I am basically associating the estate name with another obvious, unnamed product. At a City to City+ roast, where the coffee has yet to develop a really even surface appearance, this pleasant sourness is at its peak, but there's a little burr to the cup in the finish, and the chocolate isn't yet developed. That's why I really like it at Full City to Full City+, near second crack and a few snaps into it. The coffee still appears a bit ruddy on the surface, but the color is dark. It becomes sweet and cinnamony, with a predominate cocoa taste. All the edgy flavors from lighter roasts round out, and the cup achieves this really delicate balance. It's delicious and dangerous: I can't stop drinking this stuff!
Wet Aroma (1-5) 3.8
Brightness - Acidity (1-10) 8.8
Flavor - Depth (1-10) 9
Body - Movement (1-5) 4
Finish - Aftertaste (1-10) 9
Cupper's Correction (1-5) 0 Roast: This coffee resists the roast, so you will need to roast it a little longer to achieve a desired darkness… I prefer it at Full City to Full City+, which is where the chocolate bittersweet really emerges. Even at these stages, the coffee surface can appear a little ruddy and mottled when using an air roaster - but don't fret too much about that. It's a very dense, high grown coffee, so it plays some tricks on you with the roast, and the roast color and bean surface.
Add 50 50 Compare to: A thoroughbred Antigua, with classic Antigua cup profile: bittersweet, complex and balanced too , with an intensity that emerges as the cup cools, and in the aftertaste.
Score (Max. 100) 88

Some photos of the Filadelfia Estate - r to l - Volcano in background, ripe cherry, the coffee nursery.
Guatemalan Antigua -La Flor del Café
Country: Guatemala Grade: SHB Region: Antigua Mark: La Flor del Café
Processing: Wet-processed Crop: 2003 Appearance: 0 d/300gr, 17+ Screen Varietal: Typica, Bourbon
Dry Fragrance (1-5) 3.3 Notes: For me, this coffee is a refreshing relief in more than one way. Everyone knows about Antigua coffees from Guatemala (just as everyone talks only about Tarrazu when you mention Costa Rican coffee). But what a bunch of crappy coffees are out there being sold under the Antigua name! (and in fact there is a move to make the Antigua name a strictly certified appellation). But even among the known true Antiguas, the cup simply does not often support the reputation. As a cupper, I have simply stopped trying to find good Antiguas because the other growing regions (Fraijanes, Huehuetenango, Oriente and Coban are at the top of my list) are producing great coffees that are more like the true Antiguas of my early roasting days than most samples I receive labeled Antigua. My last hope was this coffee offered here, a sample arrived from the importers at La Minita, and I tasted an Antigua cup that was truly inspiring, unique, vibrant, bright, and would give me something to appease all the emails we get wondering why we don't have an Antigua! This is a trade name coffee from the Las Pastores beneficio (mill), chosen from many small farm lots by the cupping team at La Minita. The milling of the coffee is done under the guidance of the same team to exacting standards, and the preparation and cup quality of this coffee bear it out. It's aromas are toasty and sweet, the first sip is softly fruited, and very floral (hence the name)! The roast tastes are soft milk-chocolate tones paired with a really velvety mouthfeel. As the cup cools, the brightness peaks in a tangerine sweetness. In other words, it really is a great coffee from Antigua.
Wet Aroma (1-5) 2.9
Brightness - Acidity (1-10) 8.8
Flavor - Depth (1-10) 9.0
Body - Movement (1-5) 4.0
Finish - Aftertaste (1-10) 9.0
Cupper's Correction (1-5) 0.0 Roast: My favorite: a lighter City roast stopped before 2nd crack, but at a point where the roast has fully developed and there is no "wrinkly" surface to the seed.
Add 50 50.0 Compare to: Bright, balanced, abundantly sweet Costas -better and better as the cup cools.
Score (Max. 100) 87
Guatemalan Huixoc Huehuetenango
Country: Guatemala Grade: SHB Region: Huehuetenango Mark: Huixoc 
Processing: Wet-processed Crop: 2003 Appearance: .2 d/300gr, 17 Screen Varietal: Caturra, Catuaí, Bourbon
Dry Fragrance (1-5) 3.3 Notes: There are some incredible Huehuetenango coffees again this year. If this year follows through with the recent cupping history of Guatemalan coffees: if you want outstanding, fruity, bright Central American you are probably going to find it in Huehuetenango. On my last trip to Guatemala I had the chance to visit two coffee fincas which share the same west-facing slope in the same valley, El Injertal and Huixoc. And both are incredible coffees (El Injertal won a spot in the Guatemala Cup of Excellence auction, and if Huixoc was ever entered I am sure it would too!) The Huixoc represents the bright, sweetly floral end of the spectrum when they are treated to a lighter City roast. The roast taste in the lighter City roast is honeyed and allows a modicum of spice to emerge as the cup cools. As the roast progresses to Full City, I am so impressed with the tangy bittersweet of the Huixoc, especially a few snaps into 2nd crack. It is medium-bodied, with outstanding aromatics, delicate floral notes in the acidity and fruitiness, and a good cleanly-disappearing aftertaste marked by mild dryness. I found the City roast samples shifted a little after several days rest to more of a milk chocolate roast taste, with a tangy bittersweet chocolate finish. Both cup profiles are very nice!
Wet Aroma (1-5) 4
Brightness - Acidity (1-10) 8.5
Flavor - Depth (1-10) 8.5
Body - Movement (1-5) 3
Finish - Aftertaste (1-10) 8.2
Cupper's Correction (1-5) 1 Roast: City Roast: You lose the delicate bright flavors if you roast this too dark.
Add 50 50 Compare to: The bright and delicate acidity of a lighter roast reminds of this coffee from last year, but at Full City it is more sharply chocolatey and bittersweet.
Score (Max. 100) 86.5
Guatemala Huehuetenango -El Injerto Estate
Country: Guatemala Grade: SHB Region: Huehuetenango Mark: El Injerto Estate
Processing: Wet-processed Crop: