How does Antigua coffee green bean terroir shape the cup?

La Minita's Flor del Café comes from Guatemala's Antigua region, where active volcanoes surround the farms. Volcanic ash enriches the soil with minerals, and a wide day-night temperature swing slows cherry development. The coffee green bean is a washed blend of Bourbon, Caturra and Catuai, and the cup shows elegant floral aroma, soft acidity and a chocolate finish.

The Pacaya volcano sits 33 kilometers south of Guatemala City and rises to 2,552 meters; smallholders plant close to the peak for nutrients, accepting eruption risk. Guatemala produces about 186,000 tons of coffee a year. Roast profile and brewing of coffee by pour-over are tuned to protect the delicate floral notes, so water temperature and grind stay moderate.

Among the seven countries of Central America, Guatemala's coffee has always been renowned for its rich layers and distinctive style. The Antigua region is surrounded by active volcanoes; its volcanic ash soil and pronounced day-night temperature difference give the coffee beans a unique smoky note and intense fruity aroma. La Folie, under the La Minita group, is a representative work of this region—a blend of three classic varieties, Bourbon, Caturra, and Catuai, processed by traditional washing, presenting elegant floral aromas, soft acidity, and a chocolate finish. This article, from the perspective of Front Street Coffee, systematically reviews La Folie's regional background, variety composition, green bean characteristics, roasting curve, and pour-over brewing parameters, helping coffee enthusiasts fully understand this bean's flavor logic and extraction key points.

Guatemalan Coffee Brand - Antigua

Annual production: 186,000 tons

"Coffee from this small Central American country has performed remarkably well in recent years: balanced, sweet, smooth, full of aroma, and when drinking it, one feels as if tracing back to its source—Mayan culture." — PureCoffee blog author Bill Walsh

With its unique style, Guatemalan coffee has risen to become a world-renowned region in recent years. In the shaded volcanic zones, coffee beans develop complex layers of aroma and a rich, full-bodied texture, reminiscent of the ancient Mayan civilization—deep, distant, and somewhat mysterious.

Pacaya Volcano is an active volcano (coordinates: 14°22′51″N 90°36′04″W), located 33 kilometers south of Guatemala City, the capital of Guatemala, and is one of the most active volcanoes in the world. The local government has opened hiking trails, allowing tourists to climb to the crater's edge at 2,552 meters above sea level and feel the crater's heat and sulfur smell. The volcanic ash from eruptions enriches the surrounding soil with minerals, and combined with the significant day-night temperature difference around the volcano, the coffee beans produced in this area possess a distinctive flavor. According to bean merchant data, smallholder coffee farmers in the Pacaya volcanic area choose to plant at positions extremely close to the volcanic peak to allow the coffee trees to obtain more nutrients; doing so naturally entails the risk of unexpected volcanic eruptions, so the green coffee beans produced in this area are scarce and high-quality, sought after by buyers.

The family producing this bean initially sold the harvested coffee cherries to operators with processing plants, and it was not until 2015 that they began establishing their own processing facility, completing fine post-processing themselves, and founding the brand under the name 'Gold Mountain', which has now accumulated a good reputation in the Pacaya volcanic area.

Guatemala Antigua

Guatemala Antigua La Folie Coffee

(Guatemala La Minita La Folie)

Region: Antigua (Antigua) volcanic area

Estate: La Minita

Exporter: La Minita group's brand "La Folie"

Variety: Caturra, Catuai, Borbon Bourbon, Caturra, Catuai

Altitude: 1,200 to 1,600 meters

Grade: European specification washed Strictly Hard Bean (SHB)

Processing method: Traditional washed processing

Harvest period: N/A

Certification: N/A

Flavor characteristics: La Folie has a very pleasant and elegant floral main flavor,

with soft acidity and finishing with a chocolate-like aftertaste, the overall taste is clean and bright.

Sweet and smooth, with distinct layers of fruity acidity, and a fruity floral mouthfeel.

Processing: Washed processing

01丨Region Introduction

Guatemala is located in the Central American isthmus, with numerous volcanoes within its territory, forming a landscape of interlaced high mountains and plateaus, producing high-quality Central American high-altitude Strictly Hard Bean coffee, and is the world's ninth-largest coffee bean producer. Guatemala's main coffee regions include seven major areas: Antigua, Huehuetenango, Atitlan, Coban, Fraijanes, Acatenango, etc. The coffee beans from Guatemala's seven major regions are all Arabica varieties, all located in highland terrain under a subtropical climate, with abundant and stable rainfall, and fertile volcanic ash soil, giving the country extremely ideal natural conditions for coffee cultivation.

Each region has its own distinctive flavor; premium coffee has bright acidity, rounded fruity notes, and is smooth, ranking among the world's top coffees, suitable for single-origin drinking. The Antigua region is located in the entire area dominated by the Madre Plateau within the Topographically mountains crossing Guatemala. Thanks to the natural conditions of this region, Antigua has become Guatemala's most prestigious region.

Antigua Region Introduction

La Folie is one of the brand beans under La Minita company, with its region located in Antigua City, Guatemala, a highland surrounded by active volcanoes at an altitude of 1,850 meters, and is the country's most awarded and famous region.

Antigua's summer rainfall is relatively low, and in winter it occasionally frosts due to excessive cold, which is actually not conducive to coffee tree growth. Fortunately, it is located in an active volcanic belt; when the pumice ejected by the volcano falls into the soil and cools, these pumice stones have numerous fine pores, extremely beneficial for water retention. Additionally, a large number of shade trees are planted on the estate, preventing the coffee trees from suffering cold damage in winter. These measures to overcome unfavorable conditions, combined with the significant day-night temperature difference, create Antigua's unique microclimate, giving the coffee beans here a faint smoky flavor and a rich fruity aroma.

La Minita is renowned for its excellent cultivation, processing techniques, and extremely strict quality control. With such standards, they commission Las Pastores, the largest washing processing plant in Antigua, to process the green beans, and name the coffee beans La Folie. In addition to preserving the original regional flavor, the dry aroma carries a rich floral and tea fragrance; upon entry, there is lime's tart brightness and berry flavors, then transitioning to a honey finish. Excellent cleanliness and rich layers are the characteristics of this La Folie.

La Minita Estate Coffee Cultivation

La Minita Estate does not use insecticides, and the climate and altitude formed by the estate's geographical advantages, along with its location conditions, limit the number of pests; a small number of pests do not significantly affect the coffee trees. At the end of the rainy season, coffee cherries will soon ripen; green cherries begin to turn red, but coffee cherries ripen very slowly and unevenly, unlike flowering which is rapid and consistent. Therefore, harvesting work must be handled more carefully, picking only fully ripe dark red cherries. The cherries from a single tree may be harvested up to 5 times depending on ripeness. The estate conducts soil tests twice a year to decide how to fertilize; La Minita Estate is very careful when using products that can increase yield, fertilizing about 3 times a year.

In addition, applying trace elements such as zinc, boron, and copper can provide coffee trees with more nutrients and prevent diseases. Such scientific cultivation management has created La Folie coffee's excellent flavor performance and a reputation for consistent quality over the years. Following La Minita's famous gatekeeping procedures, strictly supervising the entire process of La Folie coffee from cultivation to packaging, these intricate procedures are all to ensure that the Pastores processing plant provides only the best quality, and to strictly control the estate's standard operating procedures.

The Antigua region itself is the most famous among Guatemala's seven major regions, with high altitude, unique volcanic soil, and shade cultivation, so coffee beans from the Antigua area have a unique and distinctive regional flavor.

02丨Processing Method

1. Removing floating beans: Pour coffee beans into a large water tank; underdeveloped defective beans will float to the surface, while mature, full cherries will sink to the bottom. At this point, skim off the floating beans from the surface, completing the floating bean removal step.

2. Removing peel and pulp: Through a pulping machine, remove the outer skin and pulp of the coffee cherries. (Leaving behind mucilage, parchment, and silver skin.)

3. Fermentation: The purpose of this step is to use biological processing methods to remove the mucilage. Place the coffee cherries processed by the pulping machine into a fermentation tank for 16 to 36 hours; fermentation bacteria will dissolve the mucilage.

4. Washing: After completing fermentation and removing mucilage, since fermentation bacteria and impurities remain on the coffee beans, the coffee beans are washed again. To clean thoroughly, this step consumes a large amount of fresh water.

5. Drying and removing parchment and silver skin: Dry the coffee cherries to reduce moisture content to 10-14%. Then use a huller to remove the remaining parchment and silver skin, completing the processing.

03丨FrontStreet Coffee Green Bean Analysis

[Guatemala La Folie Washed Processing]

The varieties of Guatemala La Folie are mainly Bourbon, Caturra, and Catuai. Bourbon and Typica are both ancient, high-quality coffee varieties. Compared to Typica, the beans are smaller and rounder.

Caturra has a lemony or citrusy acidity in taste, and its sweetness is inferior to Typica and Bourbon, because Caturra's sweetness is determined by the number and dosage of fertilizer applied by the grower. It has high productivity, but to maintain productivity, continuous fertilization and pruning are required, so the tree is short with many branches. Although productivity is increased, because the harvest period takes 2 years, care costs are higher, so production is still somewhat limited.

04丨FrontStreet Coffee Roasting Analysis

This green coffee bean is plump, green with a yellow tint, with good uniformity and medium moisture content. The roasting goal is medium roast, on one hand preserving bright acidity to showcase floral and fruity aromas, and on the other hand enhancing richness and balance.

In FrontStreet Coffee's first batch of roasting, the bean drop temperature was relatively high, with a charge temperature of 200 degrees and relatively high heat. During roasting, it was found that this bean was from a higher altitude with harder bean texture. To preserve more acidity and aroma, a roasting approach of increasing temperature rise and advancing first crack was adopted. At the yellowing point, after dehydration was complete, and before first crack, the heat was reduced respectively to avoid scorching the bean surface, and the beans were dropped 1 minute 50 seconds after first crack ended, shortening the caramelization reaction time and preserving more floral and fruity aftertaste.

Roaster Yangjia 600g semi-direct fire

Charge when furnace temperature reaches 200°C, set airflow to 3, after 30s adjust heat to 160°C, airflow unchanged, turning point at 1'36", maintain heat, at 4'50" the bean surface turns yellow, grassy smell completely disappears, entering the dehydration phase, reduce heat to 140°C, adjust airflow to 4;

At 4'50" dehydration complete, reduce heat to 140°C. At 8'32" the bean surface shows ugly wrinkles and dark spots, and the toast smell clearly turns to coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this time, listen carefully for the first crack sound; at 8'37" first crack begins, reduce heat to 80°C, airflow fully open to 5 (adjust heat very carefully, not so low that there is no cracking sound), after first crack develop for 1'50", drop at 195.3°C.

This Guatemala La Folie Washed has relatively obvious citrus acidity, juicy acidity, rich floral aroma, pleasant sweetness, medium body, with a slight caramel and smoky note in the aftertaste. Overall it is pure, mild, with a smooth texture, balanced flavor, and lively, varied layers.

05丨FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Analysis

FrontStreet Coffee recommended brewing method: Pour-over

Grind size: (Japan Fuji Royal R440) 3.5

V60 dripper, 15g coffee, water temperature 91°C

Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15

Stages: Pour with a small stream to 125g and pause, then slowly pour to 225g

Total time: approximately 1 minute 50 seconds

BG grind 4R

Sweetness: ☆☆

Acidity: ☆☆☆

Bitterness: ☆

Other drip extraction suggestions:

French press, recommended grind size 3.5-4, water temperature 91°C

AeroPress, recommended grind size 2.5, water temperature 90°C

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.