Guatemala Coffees 2024: Classic with a Geisha Boost

There was a lot of soulful, old-fashioned coffee pleasure to be had among the 38 single-origin Guatemala coffees we tested for this month’s report, along with a few subtle sensory shocks and surprises. Given the waves of experimentation with processing methods pursued by Central American coffee producers over the last couple of years, I thought we might need to finesse our way through trade-offs between flamboyant fruit-forward anaerobic ferment experiments and classic washed coffee tradition. But only one explicit anaerobic-fermented sample showed up, and that one was rather subdued and unexceptional.

Does that mean the highest-rated among the remaining 37 Guatemalas we tested were predictable or boring? Not at all. Partly because the other great determinant of originality in coffee character, tree variety, is very much in play here. Among the ten top-rated, 91+ Guatemalas we tested, five were produced from trees of the celebrated Geisha variety, the cultivar that transformed specialty coffee history when its grandly structured, floral and cocoa-toned cup emerged in the Best of Panama green coffee competition in 2004. True, the five Geishas represented in this month’s cupping are not as intense and startlingly distinctive as were those early Panama Geishas. Nevertheless, these Guatemala Geishas were more than distinctive enough to infuse the classic balance of washed-process coffees with floral complexity and sweet, juicy brightness. This fusion is particularly clear in two top-rated coffees from familiar Taiwan roasters, the GK Coffee Guatemala El Injerto Malawi Geisha Washed (95) and the Kakalove Guatemala Washed Finca La Hermosa Gesha Peaberry (94). Both deliver classic pleasure with a distinct Geisha lift. (The El Injerto Malawi Geisha, by the way, is produced from seed of a strain of the Geisha variety that has long been grown in the East African country of Malawi, independent from the Panama-grown variety that has created such a stir elsewhere in the coffee world.)

Two Natural-Process Geishas

The impact of Geisha as a cup-transforming tree variety was bolstered almost from the beginning by processing experiments aimed at intensifying its already striking character. Two of the Geishas we review this month were processed by the natural method, the ancient, now updated practice of drying coffee in the whole fruit.

These two samples clearly reveal the contrasting directions taken by the contemporary natural-process cup. The Bonlife Guatemala Finca La Linea Gesha (93) embodies the now familiar style of natural: sweet, lushly fruit-toned, chocolate-inclined, a style often patronized by purists as “fruit bomb.” What this term misses is the fact that there are successful fruit bombs and less successful fruit bombs, and this month’s Bonlife Finca La Linea, in our view, can be counted as a successful one. The fruit tones are ripe though not overripe, and the structure is plush and juicy but free of shadow taint.

Moving in the opposite direction, the Euphora Coffee El Injerto Legendary Geisha (94) is hardly recognizable as a natural: it could be a particularly lush washed-process coffee. Rather than plushly sweet, it is richly sweet-tart, with a deep, ringing acidity.

Lime and Herb

Finally, the Geisha character displays an unusual twisty, vaguely margarita-like edge in the washed-process Kafe Coffee Roastery Guatemala Antigua Bella Carmona Geisha (92). Here the Geisha flowers are freesia-like and herby, the citrus an unusual lime.

Now to Guatemala Coffees Not Named Geisha (or Gesha)

Specialty coffee traditionalists who associate the Guatemala cup with a deep, vibrantly low-toned character and chocolate- and nut-toned nuance will also find pleasure and support in the results of this cupping. The Handlebar Guatemala Bella Carmona (93) in particular forgoes the Geisha edge for more traditional tree varieties, netting an impressive version of a familiar style Guatemala cup at an affordable price. Produced from trees of the Bourbon and Caturra varieties, it is a spot-on classic Guatemala of the old school: vibrant but low-toned, chocolaty, with orange and floral complication.

For some years now the coffee producers and technicians of the world have been on the lookout for another under-the-radar variety bombshell like the Geisha, with some success (in Colombia Sidra and Chiroso; worldwide, plantings of Kenya’s SL-28), though based on our experience at Coffee Review none of these recently popularized varieties exhibit near the startlingly original character of the original Panama Geisha. Another direction in the new variety search has been exploration of the sensory potential of varieties with unusual bean size and shape. Two such coffees appeared and showed fairly well in this month’s cupping. The Marago-Pache (a large-beaned hybrid of the huge-beaned Maragogype and the Typica-related Pache) from Torque Coffees scored 91 for its delicate, subtly structured cup. A more radically different new variety is the Willoughby’s Guatemala El Socorro Laurina (91). Laurina is different in at least three ways: different bean shape (small and pointy), different tree shape (cone-shaped, resembling a cross between a coffee tree and a Christmas tree), and different in caffeine content: Laurina beans deliver about half as much caffeine as typical Arabica beans. Laurina is a mutant of Bourbon first found growing on Reunion Island (previously Isle of Bourbon), leading to its alternative name, Bourbon Pointu. In the cup we found it quietly distinctive, with savory-edged chocolate and deeply stated floral notes we associated with rose.

Hybrid Varieties, Subtle Processing, Fine Cup

For me perhaps the most original and noteworthy coffee in the cupping did not come from Geisha or any of the other rediscovered and fashionable varieties, but instead from disease-resistant hybrids that incorporate Robusta in their genetics. The Coffea Guatemala Chich’upao (93) was produced from trees of the Costa Rica 90, Parainema and Sarchimor varieties, all members of the taste-suspect Catimor family of cultivars. I can only assume that the refined processing method deployed by the producers, Café de Chichupac, a cooperative of small-holding producers in Rabinal, Guatemala, carried the day and the cup. The processing method involved sealing the whole coffee fruit in nylon bags for two days before it was depulped and dried with skin and pulp removed but fruit flesh intact, this last step making it technically a variation on red-honey processing.

Regardless of processing name, these villagers produced a splendid coffee in a classic Central America mode: gentle, deeply complex, and quite pure. It was achieved with the support and advice of Coffea Guatemala, a small roaster and café in the famous colonial town of Antigua, Guatemala.

Coffee and History

The other reason the Coffea Chich’upao is remarkable for me is its relationship to the social history of Guatemala, a country with a long and painful history of strife between an elite of mainly European heritage and a large population of indigenous people, mostly of Mayan ethnicity (an estimated 51 percent of the total Guatemalan population). Coffee production is, of course, one avenue through which development agencies and other progressive organizations (including businesses like Coffea Guatemala) attempt to give support and voice to indigenous villagers and small-holding producers.

The municipality in which the Chich’upaq coffee was produced, Rabinal, carries particular importance in the history of indigenous people in Guatemala. Rabinal Achí is a Maya theatrical play written in the Kʼicheʼ language and performed annually in Rabinal. It is one of the few performance pieces surviving from before Spanish colonization. Rabinal, unfortunately, is also the site of the infamous murders from 1980 to around 1985 of at least 5,000 Maya villagers by the right-wing military government of Efrain Rios Montt during the 40-year-long Guatemalan Civil War.

Another attractive option for the socially conscious coffee buyer is the Wonderstate Organic Guatemala Tojquia (92), produced by farmer Porfirio Velasquez on his small farm of seven acres from standard tree varieties and fastidiously processed by the traditional washed method. Temperate fruits (cherry, pear) in particular weave through its classic cocoa-toned balance. This is the only certified organic-grown coffee among the ten reviewed this month, and Wonderstate has a long and distinguished record of support for environmental and social causes and issues.

Famous Farms, Renowned Growing Regions

Other coffees reviewed this month were produced by larger farms, most either in the valley surrounding the town of Antigua Guatemala or in the mountains of Huehuetenango Department near the border with Chiapas, Mexico. Finca Injerto, a third-generation farm in Huehuetenango, is among the most admired Central American coffee estates and the source of two of the three top-rated reviewed coffees: the GK Coffee Malawi Geisha Washed (95) and the svelte natural-processed Euphora Legendary Gesha (94). Finca Vista Hermosa, a third-generation Huehuetenango farm owned by the Edwin Martinez family, produced the unusual Marago-Pache variety from Torque Coffee (91).

Finca El Socorro, source of Willoughby’s very rare, low-caffeine Laurina variety (91), boasts a winning record in Cup of Excellence green coffee competitions as well as a line of coffees from rare tree varieties like the Laurina. Finca Bella Carmona is a green coffee brand associated with a group of Antigua farms that appears here twice, once with the 93-rated Handlebar Guatemala and again with the Kafe Coffee Roastery Bella Carmona Geisha (92). Finally, the Gesha Peaberry from Kakalove Cafe (94) was produced by the relatively new, medium-sized farm Finca La Hermosa in the Acatenango region near the famous volcano of the same name.

Timing and Turnout

The turnout of coffees this month was less robust than usual, possibly because our publication schedule forced us to run the report a bit too early and some of the finest, high-altitude Guatemalas may have not yet made it to the roasters. The timing also may have contributed to a modest fall-off in overall ratings, since it is possible that some of the lower-rated submissions not reviewed here were from last year’s crop.

Nevertheless, this month’s ten 91-plus coffees are varied and powerful expressions of the Guatemala coffee genius, reflecting both its great classic tradition as well as subtle enhancements of new tree varieties and processing innovations.

Managing Editor Kim Westerman and Associate Editor Jason Sarley contributed to this report.