Guatemala Manos Campesinas San Marcos Organic

This delicious coffee hails from the often overlooked region of San Marcos, which is surprising considering it's got all the prime ingredients for growing amazing coffee. An ever so gently crisp front end gives way to a buttery rich body with a clean finish. The flavors are balanced and very sweet with notes of apple juice, honeydew and cane sugar accompanied by a pleasant floral undertone.

Arrival Date: June 15th, 2021

Acidity & Brightness: Slightly crisp, very sweet

Balance & Finish: Balanced with a clean finish

Body & Texture: Rich Body, buttery texture

Flavors: Apple juice, honeydew, sugar, slightly floral

Grade: SHB, grown at 1050 - 1100 masl

Processing: Fully washed, sun dried

Varieties: Bourbon & Caturra

Certifications: Organic & Fair Trade

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: "Manos Campesinas (translation: peasant hands) is an apt name for an export company dedicated to bringing coffee directly from the hands of producers. As an umbrella organization, Manos Campesinas helps smaller associations of producers gain access to the international market. This particular lot comes from three groups in the lesser known coffee producing region in the department of San Marcos, which is actually home to two impressive volcanoes (Tajumulco and Tacaná) boosting the highest elevations in all of Central America. Each of these community associations (Plan Villa Nueva, Media Cuesta, and Aprocafé Acdi) focus attention on training producers on best organic practices to manage their farms. In addition to making their own organic fertilizer, producers use their own micro-mills to process harvested cherries, which includes hand sorting, depulping, fermenting, washing and drying the coffee to 11 percent moisture. At this stage, Manos Campesinas steps in with transportation, warehousing and cupping analysis to establish a traceable community blend with a vibrant regional profile ensuring greater producer earnings." - Royal Coffee

It's been quite some time since we had a coffee from the San Marcos region of Guatemala, but hearing about the coffee and it's flavor profile got us excited. Coffees from the Huehuetenango region far out sell other Guatemalan coffees for us, but sometimes you gotta take a risk and branch out! I'm glad we did because this coffee is a vastly underrated gem. An ever so gently crisp front end gives way to a buttery rich body with a clean finish. The flavors are balanced and very sweet with notes of apple juice, honeydew and cane sugar accompanied by a pleasant floral undertone. It roasts evenly and takes heat well so it's very forgiving in the roaster as well! This coffee should be in everybody's cabinet as it's a crowd pleaser and will do anything from make a satisfying morning cup to a sweet afternoon iced treat.