Finca La Bolsa Anaerobic Natural Pacamara

Cherry, Blackberry, Lavender, Lemon Verbena

This direct trade Cup of Excellence coffee (Exotic Category) was sourced straight from Guatemala. Getting it required submitting a handwritten essay and a blood pledge to avoid dark roasts, but it was worth every ounce of effort.

Finca La Bolsa is based in Huehuetenango, a growing region as awash in stellar farms as it is in syllables. Standing out in Huehuetenango isn’t easy, but La Bolsa is a mold-breaker. Sure, it can produce the classic sweet daily-driver, but where it really shines is in its trailblazing processing methods. Case in point: this pure Pacamara lot, which the La Bolsa crew subjected to 90 hours of fastidiously managed, oxygen-deprived fermentation, followed by a period of sun-drying.

This is an unusually clean anaerobic. No funk. No off-tones. Just a beautiful set of crystalline flavors. Cherry is the bandleader, ripping Jimmy Page solos across the temperature range. When expressed properly, cherry delivers a pitch-perfect combo of tart acid and sweet sugars—and that’s exactly what you get here. It’s neither cloying nor jammy, neither brisk nor biting: a perfect blue-chip headliner.

Blackberry steps in next, a lively dose that meshes seamlessly with the cherry. As the cup cools, the fruit gives way to garden notes like lavender and lemon verbena. The lemon verbena is especially interesting—suggestive of citrus while remaining firmly herbaceous. Put it all together and you’ve got a cup that fully earns its CoE honors.

A few brew notes to finish: as you might expect, this cup shines as a pour-over. Drawdowns tend to be zippy, so keep that in mind while dialing in your grind. And if you’ve got an AeroPress, give it a run there too. The heft from an Aero brew suits this coffee beautifully.

• Region - La Libertad, Huehuetenango
• Farm - Finca La Bolsa
• Process - Anaerobic Natural
• Varietal - Pacamara
• Elevation - 1,600 MASL

Best for:

• Pour Over
• Aeropress