Guatemala Antigua Bella Carmona

This single estate gem comes to us from farmer Luis Pedro Zelaya Zamora. He's got 4 generations of coffee farming behind him and that heritage shines through in the cup. It's got great body and a buttery texture with a slightly crisp front end. Sweet flavors of ripe apple and orange and balanced with lime acidity and a dark chocolate background.

Arrival Date: March 12th, 2021

Acidity & Brightness: Slightly crisp, sweet

Balance & Finish: Balanced with a clean finish

Body & Texture: Rich Body, buttery texture

Flavors: Apple, orange, lime and dark chocolate

Grade: SHB, grown at 1500-1650 masl

Processing: Fully washed, dried on raised solar beds with airflow sensors

Varieties: Bourbon & Caturra

Roasting:  Start with a Full City (Medium) or just before second crack. Feel free to take it darker as this coffee takes dark roasting well but expect to lose some acidity and pick up more bitter notes like baker's chocolate. This coffee roasts very evenly!

Reminder: this coffee is raw, you must roast it before brewing

Our Review: "Luis Pedro Zelaya has earned a lot of attention around the cupping table and among learned coffee professionals. He has four generations of Guatemalan coffee culture pulsing through his veins and an Agribusiness degree from the renowned University of Zamorano. His stellar professional reputation for producing world-class coffees is drawn from his ability to implement precise farm management and post-harvest processing decisions. The process starts at the Zelaya’s family farm, Hacienda Carmona. where plant nutrition, pruning, and pest management are superb, which results in a selection of exquisite coffee cherries. At Bella Vista, the location of wet and dry-mill, Luis Pedro and his team meticulously process fully traceable lots by harvest date, location, variety, and altitude. Coffee is depulped, fermented, and washed in a very traditional way perfected over the last 100 years. Then the coffee is gradually dried in a controlled environment designed to protect cup quality. Raised drying beds and sensor controlled airflow permit a more uniform drying process and an additional opportunity for hand sorting parchment as it dries. The same focus on sorting and quality control is executed through to the final export stage." - Royal Coffee

This coffee's heritage is easily apparent both during roasting and later in the cup. It's a pleasure to roast and takes heat evenly and well. We prefer it right at medium, but it could take more roasting if that's your preference. At medium, it's got great body and buttery texture with gentle lime acidity and a quick, fairly clean finish. The flavors are well balanced in the cup with the sparkling lime front end offset by sweet, ripe apple and orange all coated in rich dark chocolate. This is a crowd-pleaser of a cup and just like your favorite pair of jeans, it goes with anything!