La Finca El Amate, Guatemala

Finca El Amate, Guatemala

Location: Guatemala

Roast: Medium

Roasters: The Foundry Coffee
Roasters

Processing method:
fully washed and patio dried

Price: £8 for 350g

Aroma: 7

Body: 8

Flavor: 8

Aftertaste: 8

With Milk: 10

Currently at Hill
Top Brews Lab, we have sampled Finca El Amate, Guatemala produced by the
Ventura Family in Fraijanes and roasted by The Foundry Coffee Roasters.

Cupping:

Recipe: 12g coffee
grounds, 210ml water at 95 degrees

Steeping time: 4 minutes

When you first
smell the freshly ground beans, there is a very nutty smell. It is also very
sweet almost like praline.

The aroma after
being steeped, you get a very pronounced praline and dark chocolate smell.

Tasting it, it is
almost like chocolate and butterscotch with nutty notes. You also get a
burnt caramel after note.

Aeropress

Recipe: 17g coffee
grounds, 120ml water at 95 degrees

Grind Size: Slightly
coarser than espresso, medium-fine

Total time: 85
seconds

With the aeropress,
it is very smooth and the first thing that hits you is the acidity, followed by
chocolate along with a caramel note.

V60

Recipe: 20g Coffee
Grounds, 320ml water at 94 degrees

Grind Size: Medium Grind

Time: 2 minutes and 30
seconds

Brewing with v60,
there is no acidity at all. It is very sweet. Almost like toffee with a hint of
cereal or malty note.

Espresso

Recipe: 20g coffee
grounds

Shot Volume: 40g
out

Grind Size: Espresso
grind

Shot time:  30
seconds with 5 seconds pre-infusion

As an espresso, it
is quite acidic but balanced perfectly well with the chocolate, nutty and
caramel flavour. It’s almost quite boozy and heavy. Texture wise, it is very
smooth and almost like melted chocolate.

Flat White

Recipe: same as espresso

With milk, the
acidity disappears and you get a very pronounced chocolate and cereal note
along with nuts. As it cools down, there appears this wonderful butterscotch
which lingers. Now I get what the roasters mean by likening it to liquid
maltesers!

This is a very
desirable coffee as it is quite sweet. There is acidity in espresso and
aeropress but it’s not bad at all. It is actually qute pleasing to the point
that it is actually quite crisp. The coffee has a smooth, creamy mouthfeel as
an espresso and flat white. As a v60, it is almost delicate.

Guatemalan Beans,
specifically from the Fraijanes region where there is a fairly regular volcanic
activity, have a rich chocolate profile combined with a light fruit acidity.
Comparing my blind tasting notes to that of the roaster’s, I can’t help but
feel that the Foundry Coffee Roasters has done great justice in roasting such a
balanced and yet complex bean.

Another thing to
love about the Foundry Coffee Roasters is their packaging. If you have not got
an airtight or vacuum jar to store coffee, Foundry Coffee Roasters packages
come with an air valve and a ziplock to reseal. It is quite a large bag but
there is a reason for that. It is meant to fit anyone’s letter box. You won’t
have to worry about missing your parcel or having to trek to the post office to
collect it.

A little bit
about ​Foundry
Coffee Roasters, they are a family owned business based in Sheffield. Their beans are
ethically sourced and are fair trade.