The Nueva Granada Estate occupies 500 hectares within the San Marcos region which is the warmest and rainiest coffee region in Guatemala.
This coffee is produced by a wet process. In the wet process, the fruit of the coffee cherry is removed from the bean before drying. The cherries are immersed in water. The rotten cherries will float whilst the ‘good’ cherries sink and can be collected. By pressing the cherries against a screen most of the pulp is moved. The rest is removed either by fermentation or scrubbing.
It has what’s called a clean mouthfeel. Coffee beans have oils and carbohydrates inside them as well as proteins and sugars which are all extracted by the water and contribute to the mouthfeel. A clean mouthfeel means there aren’t many oils in the coffee. The less contact time between the coffee beans and water (say a pour over rather than a French press) the fewer oils will be in the resulting drink.
Typical for coffees from Central America there’s a healthy amount of acidity. Whilst over roasting can cause too much acidity some is needed to give a coffee some ‘punch’. This is the difference between Central American coffees and their milder Brazilian counterparts.
The amount of microscopic insoluble fibres and oils in the coffee also results in its body or texture. The body of this coffee is good, there’s clearly some bulk to it although it feels clean in the mouth. There’s not much extra to it, just some nice natural sweetness. There’s hints of vanilla and fruit.