Guatemala Huehuetenango Rio Azul

This coffee is big, bold and robust. Mild acidity and slight complexity combined with a rich, buttery texture make it an excellent single origin cup and a great choice for adding "oompf" to any blend. Look for warm notes of caramel, fig and baker's chocolate.

Arrival Date: February 11th, 2022

Acidity & Brightness: Mildly crisp and slightly sweet

Balance & Finish: Slightly complex, lingering pleasant finish

Body & Texture: Rich Body, buttery texture

Flavors: Baker's chocolate, caramel and fig

Grade: SHB, grown at 1800-2000m

Processing: Fully washed, sun dried

Grower: 400 producers from Huehuetenango

Region: Huehuetenango Municipality, Huehuetenango Department

Varieties: Bourbon, Catuai, and 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. Lighter roasts will exhibit some citrusy flavors such as lemon and orange. This coffee roasts very evenly!

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

Our Review: "Guatemala Huehuetenango Rio Azul SHB EP is sourced from four-hundred family owned farms located within the municipality of Huehuetenango in the department of Huehuetenango, Guatemala. On average, producers cultivate coffee on 2 acres of land intercropped with corn and beans produced for their own consumption. The producers have very little infrastructure to process their own coffee so they have partnered with an export company called Unitrade Coffee, which has a centrally located wet mill in Huehuetenango where producers can deliver their cherry. In addition to supporting coffee producers improve their access to international markets, Unitrade established an organization called CoffeeCare (focused on education, nutrition, and health) to ensure that producers have healthy places to send their children to learn, grow and play while they are harvesting coffee." - Royal Coffee

Guatemalan coffee nearly belongs in a category all it's own and the region of Huehuetenango is largely to thank for that. We like to call it a "powerhouse" coffee because it's BIG. Even fully washed, it's got a robust character that can be difficult to find in other washed Central and South American coffees. We love to use Huehuetenango in blends to add "oompf" to the cup but this coffee also stands up well on it's own with relatively mild acidity and warm sweetness followed by a rich, buttery texture. We noted fig and caramel with a baker's chocolate tone throughout.