Guatemala Huehuetenango Asobagri
My Friend's Coffee
Milk Chocolate, Toasted Marshmallow, Orange, Minerality
This coffee comes from one of the most remote parts of Huehuetenango, Santa Cruz Barillas. You don't see many coffees from Santa Cruz Barillas because getting there requires intense, John Krakauer mountaineering. First, you have to brave dizzying heights, then you have navigate rugged terrain, and finally, upon returning home, you have to write at least one bestseller about it. Shame, because, from a growing perspective, Santa Cruz Barillas is pitch-perfect: rich soil, soaring altitude, Goldilocks climate.
The Asociación Barillense de Agricultores acted as the organizer for production, processing, and exportation (in keeping with its principled opposition to syllables, the coffee industry likes to refer to the Asociación as ASOBAGRI). Over the years, ASOBAGRI has honed a sharp reputation for extraordinary coffee and a community-first spirit. This coffee represents both sides of their operation. It's a composite of Bourbon, Catuai, Catimor, and Caturra from 182 female farmers, and it does a bang-up job framing the region's much-celebrated sweet profiles.
Boy is there milk chocolate in this cup! A thick dose of it. It's constant across the temperature range, rich and sweet and just a touch creamy. Heaping sugar onto the sugar is a heavy dose of toasted marshmallow. Think gooey white fluff with crisp brown edges. I consider this note a Huehuetenango signature, and the coffee writes it in thick black Sharpie. Orange hangs out in the background, dashing just enough acidity to liven the sweetness, and if you pay close attention, you'll catch a faint dash of minerality. I really love that mineral quality. It's a note I usually associate with Antigua, and catching it in a Huehuetenango profile adds a lovely bit of iconoclasm.