Buena Vista – Antigua, Guatemala – South Slope Coffee

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.