Guatemala Finca Nueva Armenia Washed Typica
Tastes Like: Pomelo, Apple, Fig, White Florals
Origin: La Libertad, Huehuetenango, Guatemala
Variety: Typica
Producer: Antonio Recinos Alvarado & Juan Sebastián Recinos
Elevation: 1700–1900 masl
Process: Oak Washed
Finca Nueva Armenia sits in La Libertad, in the highlands of Huehuetenango, and this lot grows between 1,700 and 1,900 meters. The coffee grows under a layered shade canopy, and around fifty species of shade tree have been recorded on the farm. That forest cover has kept the farm Smithsonian Bird Friendly since 2008, and it is certified organic. Cousins Antonio Recinos Alvarado and Juan Sebastián Recinos are the fifth generation of the Recinos family to run it. Antonio is a chemical engineer who specializes in coffee processing. This Typica reached the final rounds of Guatemala's Cup of Excellence national selection again this year. We carried the previous harvest of this coffee through Balam, alongside the farm's Parainema and Maragogipe, and we are glad to have it back.
Pomelo opens the cup, bright and juicy, and crisp apple follows with a clean sweetness. Ripe fig sits beneath them and gives the cup its depth. As the cup cools, white florals rise in the aroma, and the finish stays light and clean.
Typica belongs to the Bourbon-Typica group, the lineage that carried Arabica from Yemen through Java to the Americas. Its cup is known for clarity and sweetness, with a delicate, refined structure. The plant grows tall and usually produces its first crop in its fourth year. It yields little fruit and has low resistance to leaf rust. World Coffee Research rates its quality potential at high altitude as very good and places its best above 1,000 meters at Guatemala's latitude.
Ripe cherries are depulped, and the parchment goes into an oak vessel to ferment dry, with no water added. Once the mucilage has broken down, the coffee is washed clean and sent to dry. The oak vessel is the one departure from a classic washed process, and you taste it in a cup of pomelo, apple, fig and white florals, delicate and clean throughout.