The 6 Best Guatemalan Coffee to Try Right Now

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Crystal Schwanke

Crystal Schwanke is completely obsessed with coffee and enjoys "traveling the world" with the help of the magical beans. She drags her family to every coffee shop she can squeeze into the trip when they travel and has an embarrassing amount of coffee-making gear vying for space in her kitchen.

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Want to know how to find the best coffee from Guatemala? What is the best Guatemalan coffee (in case you’re looking for a shortcut)?

Whether you’re looking for the secret to choosing your own Guatemalan coffee beans or you just want to know which ones to buy right now, I have you covered.

Characteristics of Guatemalan Coffee

If you’re already seeking out Guatemalan coffee specifically, you probably already have a general idea of what its characteristics tend to be. You may know that it’s typically balanced and smooth, but there’s so much more to discover within the world of coffees from Guatemala.

If you’re searching for Guatemalan coffees to try, you’ve possibly either sampled it yourself or someone recommended that you try it (and told you why you should).

In case neither of those scenarios is true for you and your own curiosity just brought you here to find out more, here’s a rundown of what to expect from the best Guatemalan coffees:

• Hints of chocolate: bittersweet, milk chocolate, cocoa powder, etc.
• Nuts
• Toffee (Guatemalan coffee has a reputation for being sweet)
• Can also contain fruity notes, especially citrus, as well as spices
• Not too acidic (so it may be good for those with stomach issues other coffees tend to aggravate)
• Medium or full body
• Strong, but still bright
• Mostly Arabica beans (Arabica coffee)
• Usually a medium or medium-dark roast
• High quality
• The complexity of flavor (especially coffees grown in the Huehuetenango region)

Not all Guatemalan coffees have all of the characteristics listed above, but each one has at least a few of them.

Because there are several different regions of Guatemala that grow coffee and each one has its own conditions that can affect the coffee beans’ end result, you can still get somewhat of a variety even without straying to coffees from outside the country. Think altitude, typical amounts of rain, and average temperatures.

The 6 Best Guatemalan Coffees to Try

Now that you have an idea of what you’re looking for in a Guatemalan coffee, let’s take a look at some of the best ones you can get your hands on.

These Guatemala coffee beans offer up different notes and characteristics, so feel free to work your way through the list and try them all.

Fresh Roasted Coffee LLC’s Guatemala Huehuetenango

Fresh Roasted Coffee LLC’s Guatemala Huehuetenango is single-origin, sustainably sourced, and roasted in the United States. You can get the beans in several bag sizes: 12 oz., 2-lb, 5-lb, 30-lb. You can also get a set of three 12-oz. bags at a time. Choose from whole bean, coarse grind, drip grind, or fine grind Guatemalan bean options.

It’s fairly mild and a medium roast, but it’s still full of complex flavors and aromas (cherry, chocolate, and baking spice). The company is especially selective about their Guatamala coffee beans that make it into the final product, with eight or fewer defects per 300 grams of unroasted beans.

Volcanica Coffee Company’s Guatemala Geisha

Volcanica Coffee Company’s Guatemala Geisha is a single-origin coffee that’s low in acidity, about 30 percent lower in caffeine than other coffees (as geisha coffees tend to be), and has chocolate and nutty notes. It’s grown on a farm between two volcanoes in San Marco, Guatemala, at an altitude of about 5,000 feet.

Geisha beans are longer and thinner than typical coffee beans and resistant to certain diseases other plants could succumb to. Still, they can be difficult to find this time of rich volcanic soil grown complex flavor coffee.

They don’t roast this Guatamalan bean until you place your order, so you know it’ll be fresh. The only drawback with this one is the price. The crop is extremely limited, so if you do happen to catch it in stock, you can expect to pay about $50.00 for a 16 oz. bag.

Notes include baker’s chocolate, lemon blossom, fine musk, dried peach, almond

Pablo’s Pride Gourmet Coffee

Pablo’s Pride Gourmet Coffee produces a velvety, medium-bodied Guatemalan coffee bean (known as a Guatamlan coffee brand in the coffee industry) with cocoa and caramel notes and a hint of smokiness. It’s low-acid, so if you have stomach issues when you drink certain coffees, this one is the one to start with.

Get it in whole bean, drip ground, French press, or espresso ground. It’s made up of 100 percent Arabica beans, so it won’t have the bitterness some coffees have. The company only roasts small batches so it’s easier to maintain a certain level of quality.

If you’re intrigued and wouldn’t mind trying a few other coffees from the brand, you can get Pablo’s Pride’s Guatemalan coffee as part of a sampler package.

Two Volcanoes Coffee Gourmet Guatemala Coffee

Two Volcanoes Coffee Gourmet Guatemalan Coffee brand is a whole bean medium roast single-origin option made from fair-trade Arabica beans. All the beans used in this coffee are grown at the base of two volcanoes, giving it an earthy flavor (in a good way!). The earthy notes are paired with a hint of floral.

It’s smooth, balanced, full-bodied, and mellow. At the time of this writing, it’s not available for purchase directly from the Two Volcanoes website. You can, however, get it from Amazon in 16-oz. bags.

Volcanica Coffee Company’s Guatemala Antigua

Volcanica Coffee Company’s Guatemala Antigua is another Volcanica hit. It’s full-bodied taste and aroma, rich in flavor, smooth, and vibrant.

If you love balanced medium roasts with chocolate and nutty coffee plant notes, this Antigua coffee might be the one for you (plus it’s much less expensive than the Geisha mentioned above).

Get it in whole bean, drip grind, espresso grind, or French press. It’s also available in decaf if you don’t do caffeine but enjoy the flavor of the coffee. Bonus: It’s roasted when you place your order from Volcanica’s site, so it will be as fresh as possible.

Camano Island Coffee Roasters Guatemala Light Roast

While most of the Guatemalan coffees on this list are medium roasts, the Camano Island Coffee Roasters Guatemalan is a light roast (light roasts have more caffeine). The notes are brighter and tangier than what you’ll find in most of the others; lemon and grapefruit cozy up to the expected cocoa taste and aroma.

Very specific with your coffee brewing methods and know you’ll never branch out from your usual way of making your coffee? You’ll have the option to order your beans ground for drip cone, drip flat, espresso #1, espresso #2, French press, Keurig, percolator, Turkish, or in a universal grind. Of course, you can get whole beans, too.

Get a 1-lb bag for $18.99 or a 2-lb bag for $37.99.

Comparing the Best Guatemalan Coffees

Check these coffees out, side-by-side, to decide where to start in your exploration of the most delicious Guatemalan coffees.

Which Guatemalan Coffee Is Right for You?

Finding the Guatemalan coffee that will blow you away boils down to a few things:

• How do you intend to drink it? Black? With cream and sugar? Lots of steamed milk? Brighter notes and florals could be drowned out by a lot of extras.
• How do you intend to brew it? Coffees with more delicate notes do best in pour overs. A French press will bring out the chocolates and spices.
• Which taste and aroma notes do you prefer in coffee (citrus, chocolate, caramel, etc.)?
• What type of roast do you typically like? (This also ties in with your brewing method and if you’ll be adding anything to it.) Most of the best Guatemalan coffees are a medium roast, but there are a few outliers that are either darker roast or lighter.
• Which one will be freshest when it gets to you?
• What kind of mouthfeel (taste) do you like? Velvety and dense or light and delicate taste?
• What is your budget—per month or if you’re just in the mood to try something new to shake up your morning routine?

Use the chart above and compare the ones that get your attention. Some of them are not available year-round, so that may make your decision of where to start easier.

Whichever one you choose, you’re in for a delightful cup. Most Guatemalan coffee is balanced and has cocoa and other delicate taste notes. Expect a smooth, not-too-heavy brew that works well in everything from a cappuccino to a simple cup of coffee, black.

Further Reading on Coffee Bean Varieties, Coffee Brands, and Coffee Production:

• How to Find the Best Sumatran Specialty Coffee