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Buena Vista – Antigua, Guatemala – South Slope Coffee

Andrew Pautler

Coffee Details

  • Coffee Name
    Buena Vista
  • Roaster
    South Slope Coffee
  • Roaster Location
    Asheville, North Carolina
  • Estimated Price
    $16.00 / 12 oz
  • Flavor Notes
    Milk chocolate, raspberry, stone fruit sweet & sugary
  • Process
    Fermentation for 15 hours, fully washed and dried in raised beds
  • Varieties
    Caturra and Bourbon
  • Country
    Guatemala
  • Region
    Antigua
  • Elevation
    1600-1950 MASL
  • Producer
    Luis Pedro Zelaya Aguirre
  • Roast
    Light
  • Review Brew Method
    v60, Chemex, espresso
  • Roast Date
    October 11, 2019
  • Review Date
    October 19, 2019

Coffee Scoring

8.9
Aroma
9.5 / 10
Body
8.5 / 10
Flavor
8.5 / 10
Acidity/Brightness
8 / 10
Balance
10 / 10
Sweetness
9 / 10
Cleanliness
9 / 10
Aftertaste
8.5 / 10
Complexity
9 / 10
Flexibility
9 / 10
Pros
  • Layered, complex aroma
  • Evolves nicely as the coffee cools

Disclosure: Pull & Pour received coffee samples for this post, however, as always, all opinions are 100% my own.

This coffee is from the Antigua region of Guatemala. While coffees can very a lot even by region, Antigua is know for coffee that is “elegant and well balanced with a rich aroma and very sweet taste”.1 This coffee fits perfectly into that description.

The coffee begins with a wonderfully layered and complex aroma. It is sweet, balanced and contains notes of chocolate and fruit. I love when aromas are a foreshadowing of the taste to come and this is exactly that.

Upon tasting the coffee, I immediately identified the chocolate and sweetness from the aroma; the fruit notes were suspiciously absent though. As the coffee cooled, the fruit notes emerged and I tasted raspberry & plum. As with the aroma, the flavor has this great layering of flavors on top of each other to create a nice complexity to the coffee.

The coffee did well in other areas as well. The sweetness is pronounced as well and carries through from the aroma to the finish, which is long and slow. I also loved the thicker body that coats your mouth and sits heavy on your tongue.

The Bottom Line

This coffee embodies a lot of the best attributes of good Guatemalan coffee. It is sweet, balanced and intricate. In a season filled with so many great African coffees, I was really excited to try such a strong Central American coffee.

References
  1. “Green Book.” Guatemalan National Coffee Association, 2011. 2.
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