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Peña Blanca Espresso, Guatemala
Peña Blanca Espresso, Guatemala
Peña Blanca Espresso, Guatemala
Peña Blanca Espresso, Guatemala
Peña Blanca Espresso, Guatemala

Peña Blanca Espresso, Guatemala

$19.50 USD

COCOA PUFFS, ORANGE, BALANCED

This is the fourth Cost of Production Covered (CoPC) release from Salvador Melgar and Marielisa Hernandez, and this year's harvest is an all day kind of coffee. Founded in 1992 by Sal’s father, the farm is located in San Agustín Acasaguastlán on the eastern side of Guatemala. While 26 acres of the farm are dedicated to coffee, it has nearly 780 acres dedicated to forest preserve. On site with their own mill, the coffee is white-honey processed, which gives the coffee body while also giving it clarity. This coffee still has enough cup clarity to give the impression that the coffee is wet processed. Sal and Marielisa have been working so hard to renovate the farm over the last ten years since they inherited the farm. This is a lengthy process, as it involved pruning existing plants, adding soil nutrition, and planting new plants (being so patient for them to yield fruit, which takes 2-5 years!). Their dedication to this major farm overhaul is paying off. We are totally blown away by their efforts and how it manifests as quality more and more each year. This year's harvest tastes like Cocoa Puffs, orange, and toffee when brewed as espresso.

PRODUCT DETAILS

PRODUCER Salvador Melgar and Marielisa Hernandez PLANT VARIETY
 Pache, Caturra, Catuai, and Maragogype C MARKET AT POSSESSION $2.27/lb
FARM Peña Blanca HARVEST
 Spring 2022 COST OF PRODUCTION $4.25/lb
FARM SIZE 29.4 hectares PROCESS
 White Honey FOB/EXW $3.96/lb/$5.49
REGION, GEOGRAPHY El Progreso, Oriente EXPORTER
 Bicafe FARM GATE $3.96/lb
ELEVATION 1432-1645masl IMPORTER TerraNegra Coffee Imports COST OF PRODUCTION PREMIUM $0.29/lb

RELATIONSHIP TO JUNIORS

This coffee is Cost of Production Covered (CoPC)! This is the seventh harvest Junior’s has purchased from Peña Blanca, and TerraNegra Coffee Imports was instrumental in building this partnership. Ana Cristina (Cristy) Guirola, owner of TerraNegra, is dedicated to facilitating transparency in the supply stream. What's more, she imports spectacular quality coffees. It was right around the time that Cristy introduced us to Sal and Marielisa's coffee back in 2016 that we first discussed the CoPC Project. In fact, Peña Blanca's coffee is the first coffee that Junior’s ever bought from Cristy. This year, Sal and Marielisa put together a cost of production spreadsheet, and we're currently calibrating our cost of production calculations for next harvest. With the pandemic and inflation, costs this year were exceptionally high. Sal and Marielisa have been preparing for higher yields by renovating and planting, and planting, and planting. Future higher yields will help with production costs. We have much respect for the business(es!) that Sal and Marielisa run, and find much kinship in the fact that we are also a couple running a business together.

HOW WE BREW COFFEE

There are countless influential variables and industry professionals that influence the quality of coffee before it reaches the coffee cup, and the last step to reap the benefits of this tremendous work takes place when it’s brewed.

Before talking about how this coffee brews best, let’s review some brewing basics:

  1. Dose is the amount of coffee we use (measured in grams). If you don’t have access to a digital scale, know that 1 tablespoon is equivalent to 6-8 grams of wholebean coffee.

  2. Water Input is the weight of the water we use (measured in grams) to brew with.

    * We suggest a coffee to brew water ratio of 1:16 to 1:17 for filter coffee. For example, if you’re using 15g of coffee and 250g water, your brew ratio is 1:16.67. 

  3. Burr grinders will give you a more consistent Grind Size, and you’ll be able to repeat the same grind size twice. It’s best to grind your coffee right before brewing, because grinding your coffee too far in advance accelerates the aging process of your roasted coffee. Remember that the finer you grind, the more you extract.

  4. Brew Time is the amount of time the water and coffee interact together. The longer you brew something for, the more you extract.

  5. We recommend Brew Water Temperature between 200°F and 205°F. If you are using a kettle on the stove, bring the water to a boil and wait 30-45 seconds off boil before using the water to brew. The hotter your brewing water is, the faster you can extract coffee.

HOW WE BREW THIS ESPRESSO

Brew Ratio: We brew this espresso with a 1:2 brew ratio.

Total Brew Time: We brew this espresso with a brew time of ~30s.

Notes: This coffee benefits from a dose of 19-20g.