El Anonal is reminiscent of a Sunday dessert with a generous helping of blackberries. This Guatemalan coffee from Kmen Coffee Roasters combines juicy blackberries with the fuller notes of a crumbly plum cake and a sweet finish of chocolate-covered orange. The result is a fresh yet beautifully rounded espresso, in which the fruity acidity has plenty of room to shine but isn’t overshadowed by the dessert-like sweetness. And if you add frothed milk, the flavor profile shifts toward a delicate cheesecake.
The beans come from the El Anonal farm in the La Libertad region of Huehuetenango, Guatemala, where Orlando Antulio Martínez Samayoa, along with his wife and son Gesler Gudnym Martínez López, is carrying on a family tradition now in its third generation. About 10 years ago, the farm was severely affected by coffee rust, which Orlando used as an opportunity to increase the diversity of the varieties they grow. This lot consists of traditional Bourbon and Caturra, which the family processes right next to their home at an elevation of around 1 ,600 meters above sea level.
With natural processing, everything begins at harvest. Pickers hand-select only the cherries at optimal ripeness, which are then cleaned and pre-washed in water tanks. They are then spread out on African beds and, after 3 days, undergo another round of manual sorting. Drying takes a total of 22 days, and the cherries are covered at night to prevent them from becoming damp again. Once the process is complete, the family stores the coffee in airtight Ecotact bags and jute sacks. The carefully managed natural processing helps develop a fuller sweetness and distinctive fruitiness, which give El Anonal its juicy, dessert-like character.
- Producer: El Anonal
- Altitude: 1,600 m above sea level