Describing coffee is a funny thing: Personal, playful scientific -- it's all of those things. One of my first comparisons with coffee is often a color; if Ethiopian is a lime green, a little like the color of a honeydew melon, and Sumatran is golden raspberries, then Guatemalan is lemon yellow.

The one bright side of the destruction and interruption wrought on our coffee supply by hurricanes has been that we've had a range of Guatemalan coffees coming through, and with it a whole range of yellows. The acidity of the Guatemalans is often lemony; in the light roast, it can be zingy, tingle-your-jaw lemon, or, more recently, it's been the lemony of the soft white, softly sweet area between the zest and the fruit. And a hint, just a hint, last week of peaches. All this citrusy yellow sits on a full chocolate base, a heavy enough body to hold up to the flagship Guatemalan dark roast.

I'm writing my guest appearance from Chicago this weekend where spring is just a couple days ahead. Daffodils are everywhere, yellow and springy, popping up from the recently frozen earth. There are new beginnings here at Peace Coffee too, and that’s why I’m writing this column -- TJ, our usual writer for the Roaster's Corner is moving on to roast new beans and we wish him the best of luck in his fresh ventures.

So raise a cup of Guatemalan coffee in praise of spring -- daffodil yellow, chocolate hints -- it's just like a chocolate rabbit on Easter morning. 

Enjoy!

Anna

(Back to Headlines)