Welcome back to our brewing series, this time we're sharing espresso recipes for one of our newest arrivals, Guatemala Candelaria!

Our inspiration behind this series is to help our community either begin their journey into manual brewing methods, or act as a starting point for additional tweaking and calibration for those who are more seasoned.

Normally, each post will focus on a manual brewing method like V60, AeroPress, or Chemex, but this Guatemala was tasting so good as espresso that we decided to go a different direction with this one! We are excited to team up on this series with Alex Wallace (@wallacecoffee on Instagram), who will be contributing his personal recipes and findings with each coffee.

So without further ado, let's brew some Guatemala Candelaria!

Guatemala Candelaria

Region - Huehuetenango
Varietal - Bourbon, Caturra, Catuai
Process - Fully Washed
Brewing - Great for espresso & more
We Taste: asian pear, honey graham, cocoa pebbles

Huetenango is a coffee producing region in the highlands of western Guatemala. Due to it's topography, there are a number of different microclimates that are a perfect match for coffee growing. Named after the popular "cenotes" in the area (a cenote is essentially a sinkhole, resulting from the collapse of limestone that exposes groundwater), the Cenotes of Candelaria are considered a must-visit for tourists. Two pools of crystal clear water, that change colors from turquoise blue to light green, are connected by a series of of underground rivers.

This coffee is from a number of small farms in the area that is processed together at the local wet mill. It's fully washed, before being sun-dried on patios. We found this coffee to be particularly tasty, with all the classic flavors you'd want out of a washed Guatemalan. Great chocolate notes, graham cracker sweetness, and just a bit of fruit, especially upfront.

Something new for us with Guatemala Candelaria is it's roast level. Typically we stick with light roasts for our limited release coffees, but we're roasting this one a bit darker, just beyond where we roast our Colombia Santa Barbara. We found those flavors really popped with a little extra development time, and it also lent itself to a great espresso option!

One thing to note is that we found this coffee to have almost no acidity bite when pulled as espresso. Normally we enjoy that brightness, but there was something very enjoyable about Candelaria as a double shot, and it also pairs really well with milk!

Alex Says...

I decided to change things up. This Guatamala was developed just a bit more than the other limited offerings Atomic does, so we decided to go with some spro today. I pulled this as a double shot, and I also made a 6oz double cappuccino with this coffee and it was insanely delicious.

I’m usually not one for milk based drinks that often but this one makes an incredible cappuccino. With Oatmilk it was just straight up chocolatey goodness with such a creamy and sweet texture. It was like butter cookies and honey grahams. Maybe some stone fruit in the cup.

As a double shot though it was crisp, creamy, and sweet with wonderful notes of chocolate, cherry, and Asian pears. Had some fun with this one! 

Recipes

Espresso

Drink: Double shot
Machine: Linea PB
Ratio: 20g in / 40g out
Time: 25 seconds
Grind: Niche Zero, set to 18
Notes: crisp, creamy, Asian pear, cherries, chocolatey
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Cappuccino

Drink: 6 oz cappuccino
Machine: Linea PB
Ratio: 20g in / 40g out
Time: 25 seconds
Grind: Niche Zero, set to 18
Milk: Oat milk
Notes: cocoa pebbles, malty, sweet, chocolatey, creamy, butter cookies, honey graham