New Release — Get a load of our Guatemala Guaya'B

We’re very excited about our new single origin. Guatemala Guaya'B is a well balanced, delicate bodied number with deliciously floral notes. In other words, exactly the kind of amazing coffee you’d expect from Guatemala. 

So, what makes Guatemalan coffee so gosh darn good? Microclimate has a lot to do with it, and Guatemala has over 300 of them. Each region has its own unique flavour profile due to the incredibly diverse geographical landscape. You’ve got volcanoes, lakes, rainforests, a close proximity to the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans—the list goes on. To give you a visual (if you're geography of Central America is a bit rusty) Guatemala borders with Mexico in the north and El Salvador and Honduras to the south. 

The beans in our new coffee are produced by the Asociación Civil Guaya'B co-op, based in western Huehuetenango. Huehuetenango is remote, it’s rugged and it has hot, dry winds that blow over from Mexico.

Coffee in this region can be cultivated up to 2000m above sea level without being in danger of frost. Coffee cherries grow slower at a high altitude, which means the green beans are denser, sweeter and more flavoursome by the time the cherries are ready for picking. Yum. All that density gives the coffee a honey-like sweetness and while it doesn’t have the big body that a lot of people associate with Guatemalan coffee, the red grape acidity and delicate body of this coffee an absolute treat. Get your hands on a bag of Guatemala Guaya'B.

The Asociación Civil Guaya'B co-op has been around since 1999 and currently have 612 members, producing four varieties of beans — Typica, Caturra, Catuai and Bourbon. Over the last ten years, the members of Guaya'B have built and developed a wet mill with help from the Fairtrade Premiums they receive being part of the Fairtrade network. This allows them to grade, pulp, ferment and dry a large proportion of their coffee to a very high standard — we hope you enjoy the fruits of their efforts.

On the coaster — The Resplendent Quetzal takes its name from the Aztec word “quetzalli”, meaning “tall, upstanding plume”. It has been the national bird of Guatemala since 1871. Their iridescent feathers act as a camouflage in the leaf canopies of their habitat of tropical montane cloud forests. The Resplendent Quetzal, also known as the 'God of the air' was a sacred bird in both Aztec and Mayan cultures, where priests and royalty wore quetzal feathers during ceremonial events.

Shop Guatemala Guaya'B here.