Guatemala

Guatemala is unusually well organised as a coffee origin, and that organisation is sometimes read as more binding than it is.

Eight regions, defined by an association

Anacafe defines eight coffee regions and markets them individually: Antigua, Acatenango, Atitlan, Coban, Fraijanes, Huehuetenango, Nuevo Oriente and San Marcos. They correspond to real differences in altitude, rainfall and volcanic soil, and the profiles genuinely differ.

What they are not is a protected denomination in the sense Colombia’s seven DOs are. The framework is the national association’s, and a region name on a bag is a claim by the seller rather than a certified attribute. That is a different kind of statement, and worth knowing which one you are reading.

The altitude ladder is longer than it looks

Guatemalan altitude classification runs Strictly Hard Bean, Hard Bean, Semi Hard Bean, Extra Prime Washed, Prime Washed, Extra Good Washed and Good Washed. Most English retail copy shows the top one or two and implies the rest do not exist.

As in Costa Rica, the whole ladder measures altitude and therefore bean density. It does not measure flavour, and the two are correlated rather than equivalent.

Qualifications on the record

How the grades nest

Guatemala's altitude grades run further down the scale than most retail copy shows - Strictly Hard Bean, Hard Bean, Semi Hard Bean, Extra Prime Washed, Prime Washed, Extra Good Washed and Good Washed. Presenting SHB as the top of a two-rung ladder hides five rungs.

Harvest qualification

The eight defined regions do not share a calendar. Coban and the Atitlan slopes run to different windows, and altitude moves the picking date within each.

Competition editions

One edition per year.

Typical cup

Cocoa and orange in the classic Antigua profile; the Huehuetenango high farms run brighter and more citric, and Coban is wetter and heavier.

Varieties recorded here