A Primer on Peace Coffee's Guatemalan Coffees
by Keith Tomlinson, Peace Coffee Head Roaster

Here is the lowdown on Guatemalan coffee as Peace Coffee interacts with it. Incidentally, Natalie and Lee from Peace Coffee and Ricki from IATP were just in Guatemala visiting with farmers and their cooperatives.

There are four Guatemalan cooperatives that are Fair Trade and organic certified from which Cooperative Coffees imports. These cooperatives are APECAFORMM, Rio Azul, Chajulense, and Nahuala. Each one resides within a different region of Guatemala. APECAFORMM is in San Marcos, Rio Azul is in Huehuetenango, Chajulense is in El Quiche, and Nahuala is in Quezaltenango. In Guatemala the harvest time is primarily between November and February. We will start receiving the green beans from these harvests starting in April.

Each year, based on a combination of experience, supply and primarily quality, Peace Coffee makes decisions about which Guatemalan coffees will be in our Guatemalan Light and which will be our Guatemalan Dark. This year APECAFORMM and Nahuala will be the two coffees we use for our Guatemalan Dark and Chajulense and Rio Azul are the two coffees we will use for our Guatemalan Light.

We pick these combinations because they best suit what we are looking for in each of these roasts. With our Light, we want to showcase a beautiful clean citrus acidity at the front of the cup and a smooth long milk chocolate at the end. For the Dark, we look for dark chocolate front to back, with a big body, and the slightest hint of smoky roast in the aroma and aftertaste.

I've seen the cupping notes from the 2008 harvest samples and it looks like we are in for some of the finest Guatemalan coffees that we have seen in a couple of years. Right now, we are roasting APECAFORMM as our Guatemalan Dark roast, and Chajulense as our Light. They are both incredible examples of well-balanced solid Guatemalan coffees.

Cheers!

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