bittersweet undercurrent of baking chocolate and molasses sugars, caramel and warm chocolate cookies aroma, the coffee unfolds to something a little more complex as it cools.
This is a Project Coffee by Sweet Marias’ based in Oakland California. They call this “Proyecto Xinabajul” (pronounced She-nah-bah-hool), named for the ancient Mayan name for the Huehuetenango region. In this project, SM team have cupped many hundreds of samples to identify small producers who are producing quality coffee in the Sierra de los Cuchumatanes mountains. As a pioneer direct trade program, Sweet Maria are setting parchment prices themselves based on cupping quality. Cupping is a method of tasting coffee by steeping grounds in separate cups for discrete amounts of ground coffee, to reveal good flavors and defects to their fullest. It has formal elements and methodology, which conducted by SM’s team on the ground in Guatemala. Sample size has down to 40kgs (less than half a bag of coffee), mapping all the farms, and developing a hands-on understanding of the variables in quality. Find out more about the project here: https://library.sweetmarias.com/guatemala-proyecto-xinabajul/
This is a small lot is built from the coffees of a few small producers in the El Paraiso micro-region of Huehuetenango. This lush, high-land valley boasts a dramatic landscape of jutting cliffs and seemingly endless green as far as you can see. Farmers in the region, grow coffee on small parcels of land often adjacent to where they live – in many cases less than one hectare of coffee. Bourbon and Caturra are dominant varietals, but you’ll see the occasional Catuaí and Typica trees mixed in. Processing is managed locally, each farmer de-pulping and fermenting their coffee at home, or at a neighbor’s, then laying it out to dry on concrete patios. Slight variations in processing technic can make for unique cup profiles from one neighbor’s coffee to the next. The dry parchment coffee is transported to a dry milling facility in Huehuetenango town where it is hulled, sorted and prepared for export.
Cupping Notes
This custom Xinabajul blend kicks things off with roasty cocoa powder and buttery, toffee-coated nut smells in the dry fragrance with dark caramel and warm chocolate cookies coming up in the steam after pouring hot water. Full City roasts produce a bittersweet undercurrent of baking chocolate and molasses sugars that underpin mild top notes. The coffee unfolds to something a little more complex as it cools, but sticks close to a palette of dark chocolate flavors with characteristics of high cocoa solids and pleasantly bittering chocolate alkaloids, cooling to unrefined sweetness of caramelized sugars and a hint of flan on the nose.
- Origin: Guatemala
- Region: Huehuetenango
- Altitude: 1500-200m
- Cultivar: Bourbon, Caturra, Catuai, Typica
- Grade: SHB EP
- Processing: Wet Process (Washed)
- Drying: Patio sun-dried
- Sourcing: Sweet Marias