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Bean: Caturra/Catuai, Huehuetenango, Guatemala.
Shop: Single Estate Coffee
Together with the Ethiopian Kochere, Single Estate send me the Guatemala Finca Rosma to review. Where the Ethiopian Kochere was a filter roast, the Finca Rosma is a roast for espresso. Let’s see if this blend is just as good as their other coffee.
Guatemala Finca Rosma: Background information
We go back to the year 1963; the year in which Alejandro Morales bought a farm in the mountains of Sierra de los Chuchumatan. The farm, Finca Rosma, was close to the borders between Guatemala and Mexico on an altitude of about 1400 meters. In the year 1982 Alejandro’s son, Milton Freddy, started to grow coffee on the farm using Caturra, Catuai and Bourbon variety’s. Finca Rosma was difficult to reach and had no natural source of water on the farm. The Morales family got to work and changed all of that. Nowadays the farm has it’s own road, natural water source and a wet-mill for the production of the coffee.
The Guatemala Finca Rosma is grown between 1400 and 1500 meters altitude at a temperature between 14 and 28 degrees Celsius. The Guatemala Finca Rosma is protected from the sun by tree’s that provide shadow during the day. These tree’s also enrich the soil and thus improve the quality of the coffee as well. The coffee has undergone a washed process on the farm.
Guatemala Finca Rosma: Opening the package
As I open the package of the Guatemala Finca Rosma a mild scent appears. A soft caramel scent comes forth and it mingles in my nose with a fruity sweetness. The beans look equally roasted and the taste of a single bean has an apple sourness and bit of an earl-grey sensation to it. When grinding the beans the scent becomes much stronger and changes a little as well. The caramel scent fades as a fruity and apple-like scent takes over. I guess it is time to brew!
Guatemala Finca Rosma: The tasting
For this coffee I use between 17.5 and 19 grams of ground coffee. The coffee seems to become a little soft on the pallet when I lower the dosage, but when I use 20 grams the acidity becomes a little too high to my liking. I start the brewing and the coffee seeps out of the machine like a syrup at first, but soon turns into a cream-like drip. The coffee stops brewing at 26 seconds and 18 grams of coffee. The smell is citric, lemony, fruity and sweet. A soft sugary caramel scent mingles and gives this coffee an agreeable scent overall. The acidity is bright and the body is medium to full. The mouthfeel is silky and milk-like as I let it swirl through my mouth. The tastes are surprisingly nice: a subtle apple-like sourness is accompanied by the flavours of grapefruit, lemon and exotic fruits.
The aftertaste changes from fruity to a soft caramel-like flavour and lingers for quite a while.
I know this isn’t a filter-roast, but I still used it on my Hario V60. The result was surprising as the brew I got smelled sweet and was heavy on the caramel. The tastes where that of honey and caramel as well. The fun thing to note is that the fruity flavours are almost gone in this brew. The aftertaste isn’t strong with this filter, but still you can notice a certain sweetness in the back of your mouth after even a few minutes. The Guatemala Finca Rosma holds itself well as an espresso and as a filter!
Guatemala Finca Rosma: The verdict
Single Estate Coffee has proven that they are quality roasters both in Filter and in Espresso roasts. The Guatemala Finca Rosma has a very fruity profile, just as can be expected from a Guatemalan coffee. The flavours of grapefruit, lemon and exotic fruits make up for a balanced espresso. The acidity is a bit of a thing here and made me keep tweaking my espresso for quite some time. But when I found it’s sweet-spot it rewarded me with an complex but beautiful espresso. Even as a filter this roasts holds up. Caramel, honey and sugary sweetness make this an agreeable brew. Do not get me wrong: this is not a filter-roast and shouldn’t be compared to one either. Overall I would say that this is a coffee you definitely should try out!
Single Estate Coffee ships abroad in the EU.
The coffee has a medium to full body with a high acidity.