Huehuetenango coffee beans

The Americas are the world’s largest coffee-producing region, and among them, Guatemala is uniquely known for its distinctive smoky flavor. To understand the flavor profile of Guatemalan coffee, you can start with the Huehuetenango region. In addition to Guatemala’s signature smoky taste, the beans from this region also boast rich fruity aromas. Guatemala has several major coffee-growing areas...

Guatemala has eight main coffee-growing regions, one of which is Huehuetenango. It is also one of the three non-volcanic regions in the country. Huehuetenango is the highest and driest, with altitudes exceeding 2,000 meters.

Despite the high altitude, the region still receives warm winds from the mountains of the Tehuantepec Plain in Mexico, protecting the coffee plants from frost damage and allowing them to thrive healthily even at such elevations.

The Huehuetenango region mainly grows Bourbon and its variants. Both Bourbon, Caturra, and Catuai offer good acidity, with dense bean quality and floral and wine-like undertones. At the same time, production is generally carried out by small-scale producers. While many farmers grow high-quality coffee, they are often not well-off. Since most operate on a family scale, they rarely have their own wet processing stations and usually need to transport their beans to communal or more distant facilities for processing.