Each week Alterra Coffee Roasters (Milwaukee, WI) offers a special coffee/espresso by the pound or cup. This week they are presenting beans from their Featured Farm Series: Guatemala Hunapu.

Alterra’s Featured Farm Series was created as a way to recognize the efforts of the farmers that work hard to produce the best coffees and do what we love to do the most – connect people who want to drink great coffees with the farmers who produce them.

Guatemala Hunapu
Nestled among three massive volcanoes in the central highlands of Guatemala, Antigua is one of Central America’s most beautiful colonial cities. One of the volcanoes, Volcán de Agua, was originally named Hunapú (place of the flowers) until an eruption in 1541 destroyed what was then the capital city of Guatemala. Many of the locals still refer to the volcano as Hunapú, and Beneficio Bella Vista decided to use that name for this very special coffee. Naming a coffee after this epic force of nature carries with it a lot of pressure, but the farmers that harvest the perfectly ripe, 100% Bourbon variety cherries have produced something worthy of such an impressive title. Grown at elevations from 1,500 to 1,800 meters above sea level and dried on patios under the Antigua sun, this full-bodied coffee delivers near-perfect, sweet-tart acidity that cuts through flavors of blood-orange, black cherry and Mayan cocoa. Enjoy!

Earlier this year George Bregar, Alterra’s Director of Coffee, had the opportunity – along with Wisconsin Foodie – to visit a collection of farms in Antigua and was able to see first-hand the very sophisticated processing put in place to match the wonderful terroir of the region. Learn more about the coffee, the region and the people in the season premiere of Wisconsin Foodie this fall!

Espresso Notes from Colin Whitcomb, Alterra Barista Trainer
Guatemala Hunapu – Featured Espresso

The official 2011 debut of Guatemala Hunapu is here. This amazing coffee was out of stock for a few weeks this spring, but the new crop is in and is tasting great. Now it’s officially time to celebrate as we ready ourselves for a full week dedicated to this wonderful coffee.

Guatemala Hunapu grows in the Antigua region, one of the most well-known coffee producing areas in the world. The skyline is dominated by three volcanoes whose ash helped to create nutrient rich soil excellent for growing coffee. The region is so acclaimed that there have been reports of people
sneaking coffee from other growing regions into Antigua in hopes that selling their coffee there will bring higher prices!

I found this espresso to be lighter in body, but full in nuance and flavor. A great tartness, big citrus, mostly blood-orange like acidity dances around, complimented by super-sweet sugar cane. Hints of spice, cocoa and cherry. This coffee is alive, ripe, clean and sweet. Ready yourselves, Guatemala
Hunapu is better than ever.