What to Expect

This washed Guatemalan from Francisco Nájera's small plots near Ayarza sits somewhere between classic chocolate-forward Guatemala and the brighter, fruit-driven profiles you'd expect from higher-altitude Central American coffees. The cup leans juicy rather than heavy, with black cherry and peach notes balanced by caramel sweetness.

The Cup

Medium body with a round, juicy mouthfeel that carries the fruit notes without feeling thin. Acidity is moderate and malic, more green apple than citrus, giving the cup brightness without sharpness. This is clean washed coffee done well: no funk, no surprises, just clear fruit character and developed sweetness from the medium roast. The caramel note anchors the brighter fruit, making it approachable rather than challenging.

Who This Is For

If you like your coffee balanced but not boring, with enough fruit to keep things interesting and enough sweetness to keep things friendly, this will suit you. It's a good middle ground between chocolate-heavy comfort coffees and the high-acidity fruit bombs.

If you're after a heavy-bodied, low-acid morning mug or an intensely funky natural process, this won't deliver that.

Best for: Filter drinkers who want fruit and sweetness in equal measure, and espresso drinkers looking for a forgiving, balanced shot.

How to Brew This Coffee

A V60 will give you the cleanest expression of those cherry and peach notes, letting the fruit clarity shine through. Filter methods work beautifully with the medium roast, balancing the acidity and sweetness without fuss. As espresso, the caramel sweetness comes forward and the fruit rounds out, making for a juicy, approachable shot that's easy to dial in.

Guatemala

Guatemala Ayarza

Description from Roaster

Name: AyarzaProducer: Francisco Nájera Origin: Lake Ayarza, Santa Rosa Varietal: Anacafe 14, Bourbon, Catuai, Pache, San RamonAltitude: 1400-2000 metres above sea levelProcess: WashedFlavours:  Black Cherry, Green Apple. Peach, Caramel Importer: Covoya Where is it from? ...

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Description from Roaster

Name: Ayarza

Producer: Francisco Nájera

Origin: Lake Ayarza, Santa Rosa

Varietal: Anacafe 14, Bourbon, Catuai, Pache, San Ramon

Altitude: 1400-2000 metres above sea level

Process: Washed

Flavours:  Black Cherry, Green Apple. Peach, Caramel

Importer: Covoya

Where is it from?

About This Coffee

This washed lot was processed at Olam's cherry mill in Ayarza, Santa Rosa. In Guatemala, coffee is traditionally processed individually by smallholder farmers, making it difficult to manage and guarantee quality from lot to lot. Their team in Ayarza works with numerous farmers in the region, paying a premium for ripe cherries and processing them centrally to maintain strict standards throughout.

Francisco Nájera is one of many local producers theh work with at Ayarza cherry mill. Francisco was born in El Naranjo town in the Jutiapa department of Guatemala. He is 30 years old, married with two children and has been working in the coffee production business for around 15 years. Cultivating various small plots covering just under 1ha in total, Francisco is a small producer but a great entrepreneur, and has excelled in the coffee production business despite the adversity and constant threat of various coffee diseases. He also dedicates part of his time to developing coffee tree nursery services to sell saplings to other farmers in the region.

The Region

The region of Ayarza is a special one, marked by the drastic landscape and cold blue water from the Laguna de Ayarza and Laguna Azul. The lake was formed by two massive volcanoes that collapsed and formed a large crater.
The legends surrounding this lake are numerous, and the bottom has never been found. There is a large white rock of a petrified woman who didn’t follow the orders of Jesus. In short, there are simply too many good stories about Ayarza to do it justice!

Olam Guatemala always knew the region had massive potential to produce speciality coffee, but the cups that we found were usually solid but unsurprising. Two years ago, Olam rented a wet mill at 1,500 meters on an RFA-certified farm. The quality of their washed coffee was much better than we expected. Next we tried some naturals by buying cherries in Ayarza and transporting it to a region that had plenty of patios and good wind for drying. This has now been extended to include the honey process alongside experimental lots.

The Process

At the Olam Cherry mill,  have several options as to how they can process washed coffee. The beginning of the process is the same for all: strict picking and reception standards (picked ripe with less than 3% of greens), cherry floatation, de-pulping and screen sorting to remove any remaining under-ripes. From this point, there are two paths that the coffee can take.

Path 1: The coffee is fermented for 14 hours using a Fermaestro to determine the end of the fermentation, washed, dried on the patio and finished in a mechanical drier.

Path 2: the coffee is sent straight to the mechanical washers (removing the mucilage), sent through a Centriflux to remove excess water, then dried at low temperatures mechanically.

Natural factors, along with the two paths above, mean that the coffee can exhibit subtly different profiles. One profile tends to be more acidic, and the body is a touch lighter; this exhibits the winey character that cuppers often catch on fruity lots, so we call this ‘Vinoso’. The other profile is sweeter and a little more body-driven – this is the standard top-washed profile for Santa Rosa, but sometimes we call it ‘classic’. 

Roast

Medium


Brew

Filter & Espresso

This description comes from Django Coffee Co., who roasts this coffee. For the fullest product detail, you can also see their own listing at Django Coffee Co.