As the temperature drops and the leaves fall, it’s time for a taste of autumn in your daily coffee, and this Guatemalan medium light roast delivers in spades. Nutty and chocolatey, with a smooth mouth feel, this is a little taste of heaven on a frosty morning.
Guatemala produces some of the world’s most interesting and distinctive coffees, thanks to its combination of topographical and climactic conditions that are ideal for the production of high quality beans.
Situated at the foot of the Cuchumatanes, the highest non-volcanic mountain range in Central America, Huehuetenango sits at the intersection of the hot winds that blow in from across the Mexican Tehuantepec plains, and the cooler mountain air descending from the Cuchumatanes. This temperate climate is frost free, allowing the cultivation of coffee at 1350-1650 metres, and higher.
The higher the altitude, the better the coffee. This SHB (strictly hard bean) coffee has crisp acidity and is packed with all the flavour and aroma that altitude brings. These small, densely formed pache and cattura beans - fully washed in one of the abundant rivers and streams that criss-cross the Huehuetenango region - are bursting with the aromatics and smooth mouth feel that characterise Guatemalan SHB coffees.
The two varietals, pache and catturra, are pure arrabica beans which deliver higher quality, more delicious coffees than the more heavily caffeinated, often bitter robusta bean. Arrabica delivers the rich, rounded, slightly sweet flavours associated with a great cup of coffee, thanks to their higher concentration of lipids and sugars.
If you’ve never tried high altitude coffee before, you’ll notice an instant difference in the rich, nutty flavour and the crisp but mellow acidity. This is a supremely round bodied and well balanced coffee with a refreshing after taste - ideal to set your palate tingling first thing in the morning.
Did we mention the flavours of hazelnuts and chocolate that dominate this delicious cup? Think Nutella in liquid form but without the guilt or the calories. This richly satisfying flavour is a perfect expression of the best qualities of pure arrabica.
So say goodbye to bad office coffee with this Guatemalan delight from the Office Coffee Company.
