Finca Florencia is in the Fraijanes region, in sight of the capital Guatemala City. This is called Santa Elena Barillas, above Lake Amatitlan, and much of the area is becoming suburbs of the capital. Coffee farms are becoming subdivided for housing. Still, the coffee tradition runs deep here, and some farms grow, harvest and mill their coffee as their grandparents (and oftentimes as the grandparent's grandparents) did long ago. La Florencia is a 6th generation coffee farm in the same family, and they had considered selling the land until they were inspired by their good results from the 2008 Cup of Excellence competition, as well as making the auction in the 2009 CoE. We are so glad they didn't throw in the towel, because they have great coffee, partially a result of good altitude (1470-1550 meters) and great seedstock. Finca La Florencia features pure Bourbon seedstock, the type that originated on the island of Bourbon (now Reunion), as well as the Bourbon mutation called Caturra. Caturra is one of the older natural hyrbids widely used in coffee cultivation, and unlike recent hybrids, does not over-produce or stress out the coffee shrub. And it has very nice cup quality, with perhaps a shade lighter body and more citric brightness than Bourbon. This is a lot separation done at the farm, isolating the Caturra from the Bourbon to reveal the unique cup character of each. It's interesting to cup them side by side, and it's clear that the cultivar speaks in a subtle way through the cup character. The Bourbon is very balanced, with a more muted brightness; this Caturra cup is very sweet, brighter, more dynamic, but retains classic Central character as well.