Guatemala Hunapu Mountain of Flowers comes from a highland valley, Antigua. Antigua is a city and a coffee producing region in Guatemala’s central highlands. It is also a popular tourist attraction due to its well-preserved colonial heritage and remarkable scenery. Antigua sits in a valley surrounded by three massive volcanoes: Agua, Fuego and Acatenango.
The outstanding landscape, contains volcanic soil and a unique dry climate, which provides ideal conditions to produce one of the best coffees in the world. Hunapu is the brand name established by Zelcafe, a well respected Guatemalan supplier led by Luis Pedro Zelaya. Zelcafe is comprised of small producers that came together to separate each of their 100% Bourbon varietal cherries to create a truly special Antigua coffee. Hunapu is the indigenous name given by the Mayans to the nearby Volcan de Agua.*
This year, Colectivo took only a few of the highest-scoring lots from Hunapu and combined them to create the seasonal offering Guatemala Hunapu Mountain of Flowers. Grown specifically in the San Miguel Duenas and Ciudad Vieja communities, this coffee is harvested from 100 percent Bourbon variety and grown at elevations from 1,500 to 1,800 meters above sea level.**
Welcome to my Table, here in the corner of this cafe. Today we’re sipping the Guatemala Hunapu Mountain of Flowers, from Colectivo Coffee in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Feel free to pull up a chair.
THEDETAILS
origin: Antigua Guatemala
farm: N/A
producer: smallholder farmers
association: N/A
elevation: 1500 – 1800 meters above sea level
cultivars: Bourbon
process: fully washed, patio dried
CUPPINGNOTES
The aroma of the Guatemala Hunapu Mountain of Flowers is big and robust. It’s a hearty aroma.There’s a lot of roastiness in the nose, but it’s complemented by notes of dark chocolate, earth, wood, and flowers. “Mountain of Flowers” is truly an appropriate name for this coffee.
Taking my first few sips from the cup, it’s apparent that “Mountain of Flowers” doesn’t just apply to the coffee’s aroma. The flavor follows the nose onto my palate, crushing my taste buds with its massively full body and somewhat gritty, earthy mouthfeel. The initial flavors are pretty abrasive, too, probably due to the darker roast profile; the coffee tastes roasty, with some moderate (though, negligible) copper, smoke, wood, roasted almond, and earth flavors. Beneath those notes, though, are some bittersweet dark chocolate and caramelized brown sugar nuances. The more the cup cools, the more drinkable it gets, as its abrasiveness gives way to more delicate floral aromatics and a juicy navel orange acidity.
FINALTHOUGHTS
When I bought this coffee from a local shop in northern Illinois, I was hoping for a coffee that would place the emphasis on the “flowers.” What I ended up with was a cup that was a little bit more of the “mountain” than the flowers I was hoping for.
Colectivo Coffee’s Guatemala Hunapu Mountain of Flowers was a fully developed, full-bodied, hearty coffee that featured plenty of natural/earthy flavors (earth, wood, nuts) but was light on the sweet and bright fruit and floral tones that Guatemalan coffees are so famous for.
While it had some aspects that really worked in its favor, it suffered from the dark roast profile and abrasiveness up front. But it wasn’t a bad coffee; it wasn’t even an unpleasant coffee, really. It’s a coffee that could have been better, though.
*content courtesy of InterAmerican Coffee **content courtesy of Colectivo Coffee
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Andrew is a husband, father, dog lover, craft beverage enthusiast, content creator, and niche market Internet celebrity. Formerly of A Table in the Corner of the Cafe and The Pulitzer Project and contributor to Barista Magazine and Mental Floss, he’s been writing on the Internet for years.