Explore the intricacies of Guatemalan coffee with our latest hot-off-the-roaster releases to drop today. Golden Citron Guatemala is our newest small batch coffee and you can get it at your neighborhood cafe (starting Saturday) or online today when you shop our 48g Tasting Samples for $3.00, one-pound bags for $22, five-pound bags (online only) for $90, and bulk coffee options at stonecreekcoffee.com.
And Garden Geisha is our brand-spankin’ new Reserve coffee, available in our cafes (starting Saturday) and online today in limited quantities. Get a 12 oz bag for $35.00. And as a special treat to our Geisha-loving Coffee Geeks, also launching today exclusively online is a Reserve Geisha Bundle for $50. Save $20 by getting one of the 100 bundles we have available before it sells out! Each bundle features a 12 oz. bag of our new Garden Geisha Guatemala along with a 12 oz. bag of our Bergamot Geisha Costa Rica. This online-only deal is not to be missed!
Starting Saturday, get a V60 of Garden Geisha or Golden Citron when you order from our Brew Bar. Or starting on September 1st, you’ll be able to try our Golden Citron as the Seasonal Espresso, which means you can order it instead of Green Bike in any barista-crafted drink.
Let’s begin our tour outside of Guatemala City with our Garden Geisha Reserve. Finca Agua Tibia has been in the Castillo Family since 1886. The Castillos purchased the farm to provide wood and fuel for the family’s other businesses. Timber and coal became replaced by petroleum-based fuels, which freed up space on the farm for other agricultural activities. The first herd of beef cattle was purchased in 1930. In 1960, they planted their first coffee farm. Although the farm ceased to graze cattle in 2005, coffee remains a primary activity of Agua Tibia. It wasn’t until 2012 that the family began focusing on coffee production as a serious endeavor. The farm has since grown to 228 hectares.
During harvest, 300 people are employed by the farm. Only ripe, red cherries are delivered through the wet mill in the afternoon every day during the peak of the harvest season, where it is pulped and delivered to tanks for fermentation. After 42 hours, the coffee is washed using clean water and then returned to dry on patios. The parchment is thinly spread and regularly raked over the course of 7 to 12 days to ensure even drying. The final cup of Garden Geisha brings sweet hibiscus aromatics, the smoothness of cream, and a brightness akin to citrus fruit with sweet notes of cotton candy and bergamot.
And moving along to the town of San Martín Jilotepeque, Chimaltenango, Guatemala, comes Golden Citron. Finca La Merced has been owned and operated by the Alburez family since Francisco Alburez purchased it in 1832. Francisco Alburez passed along the farm to his daughter María Alburez de Ortega and her husband, Manuel Ortega y Carrascal. Finca La Merced was passed on to their son, Carlos Ortega Alburez, who planted the first coffee trees in 1912. The farm was split in 1955 in La Merced and El Retiro de Quisaya. La Merced represents around 20% of the land and El Retiro the remaining 80%. Carlos and his wife, Balbina, had to abandon the farm in 1981 due to the internal conflict. This family heritage has been passed on from generation to generation until today. The children and grandchildren of Carlos and Balbina are committed to keeping this tradition alive. Both farms have a wet mill, and the drying is mainly done on patios.
El Retiro is a traditional farm, meaning all the coffees are washed and handpicked with an average fermentation of 18 hours. At the mill, coffee is floated, pulped, fermented in tanks, and classified in long water channels (separating floaters, primary and secondary quality). For the drying process, the excess water is eliminated on patios during the first day, and then coffee is placed on raised beds to finish drying. The entire process takes around ten days. The final cup of Golden Citron brings sweet milk chocolate and caramel notes, paired with the brightness akin to citrus fruit and a delicate mouthfeel of black tea. We felt this lot represented some of the best we’d tasted from Guatemala this year.
Grab both of these coffees with free carbon-neutral shipping and explore what Guatemalan coffee has to offer. Shop our Golden Citron Small Batch & Garden Geisha Reserve while they are available by clicking the buttons below.