Guatemala Blue Ayarza Anaerobic

This coffee came through the same mill near Laguna de Ayarza as the washed Blue Ayarza we released in September, and it ended up about as far from that coffee as two lots from one mill can get. The lake fills a volcanic crater in Guatemala's Santa Rosa department, and locals call it the blue lake, which is where the Blue Ayarza name comes from. Our import partners at Covoya, who help us bring this coffee to the States, only give that label to high-grown coffee picked in late winter and early spring.

More than a thousand growers farm the slopes around the lake, most of them smallholders, and this lot comes from the upper end of that range, between 1,600 and 2,000 meters. Coffee here has traditionally been processed farm by farm, so Covoya buys the cherry instead, pays a premium for the ripe stuff, and processes it at its cherry mill near Ayarza. The trees are a mix of Bourbon, Catuai, Anacafe 14, and Pache, a compact Typica mutation first found in 1949 on a farm in this same department. Near the mill, Covoya also funds a year-round health clinic, and with other donors it supports coffee kindergartens where kids can be in class while their parents pick, with 481 enrolled across Guatemala.

For this lot, the mill sealed whole ripe cherries into recycled hermetic bag liners inside a second polypropylene bag and left them for 120 hours. That setup lets carbon dioxide vent out without letting oxygen in, which is what anaerobic means, and five days is a long time for the fruit to ferment around the seed. From there the cherries went out to the patios in thin layers for about ten days, then finished in a mechanical dryer.

On our cupping table it came through as cordial cherry, mulled wine, and chocolate sourdough, with boozy cherry, fruitcake, and black currant around them and a little kiwi in the acidity. The body is juicy, and the board summed it up as Christmastime funky.

Producer: Smallholder farmers, Covoya's Ayarza cherry mill
Region: Laguna de Ayarza, Santa Rosa, Guatemala
Altitude: 1,600-2,000 MASL
Variety: Anacafe 14, Bourbon, Catuai, Pache
Processing Method: Anaerobic natural, 120-hour cherry fermentation, patio and mechanically dried