Guatemala Blue Ayarza

About this coffee

Laguna de Ayarza fills a volcanic crater in Guatemala's Santa Rosa department, left behind about 20,000 years ago when an eruption brought down a pair of volcanoes. Locals call it the blue lake, and that's where this coffee's name comes from. Our import partners at Covoya, who help us bring this coffee to the States, only give the Blue Ayarza label to high-grown coffee picked in late winter and early spring. More than a thousand growers farm the slopes around the lake, from about 1,400 meters up to 2,000, and most of them are smallholders. In Guatemala, coffee like this has traditionally been processed farm by farm, which makes it hard to keep quality steady from one lot to the next, so Covoya buys the cherry instead, pays a premium for the ripe stuff, and processes everything centrally at its cherry mill near Ayarza. The trees are a mix of Bourbon, Catuai, Anacafe 14, and Pache, a compact Typica mutation that was first found in 1949 on a farm in this same department. This lot was washed at the mill and then dried in the sun on open patios. Near the mill, Covoya also funds a year-round health clinic, and with other donors it supports coffee kindergartens, where kids can be in class while their parents are out picking. There are 481 children enrolled across Covoya's coffee kindergartens in Guatemala. We roasted it light, and on our cupping table it came through as dark chocolate, mixed nuts, and golden raisin. It moves as you drink it, with nougat, pine nuts, and sunflower butter up front, then baking spice and toasted rice, then a rich chocolate finish. The body is medium and silky, and the acidity stays light and mellow the whole way down, which is why it landed on our board as a classic fall coffee. Pulled as espresso, the chocolate takes over with a little stone fruit, and it gets thick and sweet like a good European hot chocolate. Producer: Smallholder farmers, Covoya's Ayarza cherry mill Region: Laguna de Ayarza, Santa Rosa, Guatemala Altitude: 1,400-2,000 MASL Variety: Anacafe 14, Bourbon, Catuai, Pache Processing Method: Washed, sun-dried on patios

Coffee details reported by Frothy Monkey.