Guatemala Fredy Orantes Natural

We absolutely love having naturally processed Guatemalan coffees on offer, as they often feature unbelievable body and chocolate notes supporting the classic fruity profile of a natural. Our good friends at Primavera Coffee brought this lot in, and Fredy nailed the processing on it ... It tastes of pineapple, chocolate truffle, and cranberry, and has sweet, syrupy body for days.

It won't hang around long, so get it while you can! This is definitely our daily drinker in the roastery (while it lasts).

Fredy Orantes (pictured above, left) is a leader among the coffee growers of Santa Rosa, Guatemala, and has worked tirelessly to maintain high standards both in the field and during harvest to produce the best possible coffees. He is an expert with both larger lots and small microlots, and every aspect of coffee picking and processing is done with care to ensure top quality.

Fredy actively cares for the variety of trees on his farm – grevillea and cuje are the most numerous — but he also maintains other types of fruit and native trees. The soil management includes the application of compost made from fallen leaves and branches as well as coffee pulp. A variety of native animals and birds visit the farm, which Fredy has kept unfenced; as in nature, these creatures can come and go as they please.

Fredy’s coffees are processed with utmost care and attention at his mill, which at 1650 meters above sea level is slightly lower than the farm where the plants grow. This year, with the weather a little cooler than usual, his expertise in properly processing lots was even more critical than usual. Only the ripest Catuai cherries were selected for this lot, and they were soaked in water to remove any dust or floaters (immature or malformed beans) after picking. Soaking the cherries also serves to lower the microbial count and homogenise the temperature of the cherries. They were then placed on raised beds to dry and turned frequently in order to ensure thorough and even drying. Fredy laid the coffee out at 10 am and collected it each afternoon at 2 pm to ensure that it dried during the warmest parts of the day. Milling the dried pods was the final step, which happened at the Arcoiris dry mill in Fraijanes under the watchful eye of their experienced mill team. Then, the coffee was sorted, bagged, and prepared for export.

Elevation: 1870 Meters Above Sea Level

Varietal: Catuai 

Cup Score: 87.5

Price paid per kilo: £13.15

Process: Natural