Guatemala Antigua Bourbon Coffee

Antigua coffee grows in the valley around the city of Antigua Guatemala, on slopes of the Agua, Fuego and Acatenango volcanoes. It is a balanced cup with chocolate, citrus zest and toasted nuts, and a full, smooth body. Brewed as a batch at 93°C.

Origin & Story

A coffee named after a ruined capital

Antigua Guatemala was once Santiago de los Caballeros, the colonial capital of Spanish Central America. In 1773 a series of earthquakes, the Santa Marta earthquakes, wrecked much of the city, and the government moved to a new site that became Guatemala City. The old town became La Antigua, the old one. Many of its churches and convents still stand as ruins, and UNESCO made the city a World Heritage Site in 1979. Coffee grows on the slopes all around it.

Three volcanoes and a dry valley

The valley sits between three volcanoes: Agua to the south, and Acatenango and Fuego to the west. Fuego is one of Guatemala's active volcanoes and still drops fine ash on the valley from time to time, which renews the soil with minerals. The soils are young and full of volcanic pumice, which holds water through the dry season. Most descriptions give roughly 800 to 1,200 mm of rain a year, though the official registration documents give more, up to about 1,500 mm.

Coffee is grown at about 1,400 to 1,700 meters, with some farms higher. Days are sunny, the humidity stays low, around 65 percent, and the average temperature sits near 18 to 22°C, with chilly nights from November to February. Frost comes now and then, and farms keep a dense canopy of shade trees partly to protect the coffee from it. The wet and dry seasons are distinct, so the cherries ripen evenly, and the harvest runs from about January to mid-March.

Genuine Antigua

Antigua's reputation brought a problem: more coffee was sold as Antigua than the valley could grow. In 2006, by the growers' own count, about twice as much coffee was sold under the name as was produced there, some of it from other parts of Guatemala and some from nearby areas such as Acatenango, milled and sold as Antigua.

In 2000 a group of producers formed the Asociación de Productores de Café Genuino Antigua, APCA, to define the region and defend the name. Antigua later became a protected designation of origin under Guatemalan law; it was registered in 2008, and under Guatemalan law the State holds the title. Bags from member farms can carry the Genuine Antigua seal. Antigua is also one of the eight coffee regions recognised by Anacafé, the national coffee association.

What grows here

Bourbon is the variety Antigua is best known for, alongside Caturra and Catuaí, and many lots mix two or three. Bourbon is an old arabica variety named after the island of Bourbon, now Réunion, and it is known for sweetness and a rounded cup.

What it tastes like

Antigua's style is balance. Old descriptions of the region speak of a full, velvety body, a rich aroma and fine acidity. Recent reviews of Antigua lots on Coffee Review return to the same few notes: cocoa nib or dark chocolate, citrus zest, usually orange or grapefruit, toasted nuts such as hazelnut or almond, and sometimes plum or a light cedar or spice. One all-Bourbon lot reviewed in 2021 scored 92 with dark chocolate, grapefruit zest, plum and hazelnut. These are coffees for people who want sweetness and depth without a sharp, fruity acidity.

Brewing it

This recipe is a batch brew at 93°C, a full pot for a table, and the clean, balanced profile suits a flat-bottomed drip brewer. Use about 60 g of medium-ground coffee per liter of water and adjust from there: if the cup is thin or sour, use a little more coffee or a slightly finer grind; if it is bitter, go coarser.

Reading the Flavor Profile

These values are comparative editorial positions within our own catalog, calibrated so entries can be ranked against each other. They are not laboratory measurements.