Coffee Trivia from Guatemala

Rudy Giron: Antigua Guatemala &emdash; Coffee Lover's Still Life 2

The first time we “officially” drunk coffee in Guatemala was in 1743 for the celebration of the conversion of the Catedral de Santiago, from a church into a cathedral. It made the news the fact that they were serving coffee as well as the traditional chocolate and atoles beverages. This coffee came from the Santo Domingo monastery, grown there from coffee berries brought from Cuba. It wasn’t until 1875, give or take a few years, that according to most coffee information available in town, the coffee industry was launched to replace the revenue lost from cochinilla dies.

According to the Guatemalan National Coffee Association, Anacafé, there are eight distinct strictly hard bean quality coffees in Guatemala.

8 Regional Coffees from Guatemala

Eight distinct regions producing Strictly Hard Bean (SHB) quality coffees within defined microclimates have been identified, awarding coffee enthusiast with eight specialty coffees with unique characteristics. (source: Guatemalan Coffees/Anacafé)

The eight coffee regions are: Acatenango Valley, Antigua Coffee ®, Traditional Atitlán, Rainforest Cobán, Fraijanes Plateau, Highland Huehue, New Oriente and Volcanic San Marcos. As always, follow the white rabbit (the links) to learn the specifics of the premium coffees of Guatemala.

The premium coffee pictured here is from the Kalibus La Sierra coffee farm, from the Nuevo Oriente region, located in San Agustín Acasaguastlán, El Progreso; around three hours drive from Guatemala City in the cloud forest of Sierra de las Minas.

Special thanks to Arturo Godoy and Lorena Castillo for sharing the premium coffee, Cristian “Frosty” Giron for lending the vintage manual coffee grinder and Esperanza Huerta for the antique coffee table and the other props.

How many Guatemalan regional coffees have you tried?

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