The cup exhibits - a big beautiful, creamy, juicy mouthfeel and a lovely deep ripe sweetness, flavour notes overflowing with stone fruit notes such as peaches, plums and apricots with a lovely long sweet finish.
This is such a fantastic coffee.
Per 250g pack - not the usual smaller 227g
Additional information:
Coffee: El Platanillo - Lot No: 618
Farm: Finca El Platanillo
Varietal(s): Maragogype
Processing: Fully washed and patio dried
Owner: Stuardo Coto Markus
City/Town: San Rafaël Pié de la Cuesta
Region: San Marcos
Country: Guatemala.
Certification: N/A
When you enter through the farm gates of Finca El Platanillo (we visited in 2010) the first thing that strikes you is the manicured lower coffee growing areas and surrounding gardens. Nothing is out of place. The property maintenance and agriculture husbandry is meticulous - I mean the plants and planted areas would not be out of place at RHS Wisley or press day at Chelsea Flower Show.
This high standard is preserved as you elevate through the farm from 1,060 to 1,460 meters up the fertile southern slopes of the Tacana and Tajumulco volcanoes which goes to make up most of the farm.
All the coffee is shade grown, which protects the plants from direct sunlight and is prime in maintaining a healthy soil culture, and provides a much needed habitat for birds and insect life. This much needed habitat is extended further in 20 hectors that has been set aside as a natural forested area.
Maragogype is one of the so-called ‘heirloom’ varietals that are older plant types that were cultivated for flavour. Modern varietals, in contrast, tend to be optimised for yield, rather than taste. A Maragogype coffee bush may produce less than 1kg of green coffee a year whereas one of the newer high-yield hybrids varietals will easily produce three times as much.
Each cherry is hand picked only when the colour signals they are absolutely ripe, this compounds the full flavour of the coffee in the cup.
Many of the maragogype coffees from Guatemala are a blend of several small lots which are sold to the mill and then bulked to create a larger lot. The maragogype that we buy from Finca El Platanillo is a true single estate maragogype. The result is a more consistent and high quality coffee season after season.
The beans are unique for their very large screen size and are often commonly referred to as ‘elephant beans’ (note that this should not be confused with the ‘elephant ear’ defect beans that are also selected out and then sold due to their unusual ‘hollow’ appearance and which may be from any Arabica varietal. The two are not the same!).
An elementary school was recently completed on the farm and this offers classes for the children of the farm workers and the broader community.
The cherries are pulped on the farm using eco-friendly mills where water used in the wet processing method of the cherries is drained into sedimentation tanks to prevent pollution of the local river systems and is recycled where possible.
The beautiful coffee that comes from this farm is completely sun dried on patios with each Lot tagged having full traceability from picking through to finished product.
An outstanding coffee from an outstanding farm.
Cupping Notes
Clean Cup: 7
Sweetness: 8
Acidity: 7
Mouthfeel: 7
Flavour: 7
Aftertaste: 8
Balance: 7
Overall: 7
Correction:+36
Total: 94
Brewing Notes:
Filtered: Yes
Espresso: Yes
