Guatemala Finca Concepción Pixcaya
Guatemala Finca Concepción Pixcaya
Farm Description
Finca Concepción Pixcaya is an old family farm in the San Juan Sacatepequz area. Their main focus is pine tree forestry, but coffee was historically the main crop here. They have pure Bourbon coffee (although I noticed a very small percentage of bronze-tipped trees that are either Typica or another type). The coffee has a very dense bean, and takes a variety of roast profiles. The crease stays "clenched," tightly shut and lighter roast have a creased, wrinkled surface texture. While this coffee doesn't produce tons of exciting descriptors, it is a benchmark of cup quality. In the age of Geshas and other exotic cultivars, as well as coffee processing experiments yielding "fruit bomb" flavors, a quiet, restrained flavor profile might seem plain. This coffee challenges that, with remarkable balance between the brightness, sweetness, chocolate notes, and buttery body. It's a coffee you just want to keep drinking.
Cupping Notes
A classic Guatemala coffee with a well-structured cup, approachable, if not somewhat restrained. The dry fragrance has malty sweetness, caramel, with some soft berry notes emerging at City+ to Full City roast level. It's a very balanced cup; the lighter roasts, bright bit not tartly so. The body is buttery and dense, and roast flavor tends toward bittersweet. It's no wonder that chocolate flavors are dominant at all roast levels, from a soft milk chocolate to fairly intense, tangy baker's chocolate at FC+ roast. The SO espresso of Concepcion Pixcaya are remarkable, laced with citrusy notes, kumquat, melon, and finishing with savory spice!
Chris Schooley adds: I was really impressed by this coffee. Super deep, super juicy. Almost passion fruit-y with a little cocoa and a sweet aloe/floral quality that supports and balances the grape candy acidity. Dynamics for days. Complex and big and sweet. Filled my mouth to capacity.
Score
Roast Recommendations
This coffee has a wide lattitude for roasting, and performs well anywhere from City to Full City+. It's a dense bean and can take any roast profile you throw at it.Processing
Varietal
Grade & Appearance
Packaging
Comments
#1 I roasted this coffee a
I roasted this coffee a couple snips into 2nd, ending the roast at 13:17. First crack lasted for about 1:37.
When I cupped this coffee the first thing that came across for me was how rich it was, very full and buttery. I also had a bit of a berry that came and went initially. As the cup cooled the dry cocoa came across more for me.
I prepped an aeropress of this today, three days rest, and it was incredible. Cocoa, sweet and syrupy. I almost drank the cold semidrying sediment a couple hours later.
Sitting here now sipping on a French Press, a bit more bitters and tang that make a bit of a smack on the palate. Also makes the cocoa a little more dry, almost tanin for me. This is probably cause I messed up the grind, it started out on a cone filter grind for a few seconds before I caught it. (I'm not one to waste, not especially something like this) Probably about half the grind was not exactly course FP grind. I only let it steap for 3 minutes to make up for it. It was still very incredible.
I have a coffee tasting group that I'm going to be presenting this coffee to, I'll post how it goes.
#2 Coffee Group
Sweet. Can't wait to hear feedback from your coffee group. I really found this coffee to be lush and exciting with a lot of depth.
#3 Here are some quick comments from people who attended
So far I have had tastings for this coffee two times. Here are a couple comments.
Tom
"I really enjoyed the Guatemala - very full bodied, very "bright", with a flavor that seemed to coat my entire mouth and linger there, mellowing as the cup cooled but still remaining intensely flavorful. This was my favorite coffee of the two. The Costa Rica was also tasty, though I found it to be much more straightforward and without some of the complexity of the Guatemala. Still enjoyable - I could see myself sipping this one after dinner, maybe with dessert."
"Guatemalan-Nutty with hints of dark chocolate and berries. Slight acidity."
Daniel