Guatemala: El Bosque

A deeply quaffable mug of milk chocolate digestive and pecan nuts is rounded out with just a little shoulder of green apple.

We first began buying coffee from El Bosque nearly 20 years ago. Steve’s first visit to the farm in 2007 introduced us to a firm favourite coffee and one of our longest-standing producer relationships. Every year we look forward to this trusty Washed Bourbon treat.

Bourbon on the Amatitlán Hillside Since 1932

Finca El Bosque (meaning "The Forest" in Spanish) is a Guatemalan coffee farm that has been in the Flores family for three generations. The story began in 1932, when Julian Flores planted 14 hectares of Bourbon coffee on the Amatitlán hillside, and those 14 hectares are still producing coffee today.

After his death in 1947, the farm passed to his son José Eladio Flores, who continued growing the same Bourbon varietal while extending the farm by another 23 hectares.

Following José's death in 1996, El Bosque passed into the care of the third generation. The farm is led today by José’s wife Martha Stalla and her sons Julio, José, Francisco, and Mario. The first two generations cultivated and sold their coffee only in cherry form. The third generation has since innovated, building a mill for processing cherries under strict environmental guidelines.

El Bosque Today

El Bosque sits on a hillside that runs parallel to the main road to Guatemala City, close to Lake Amatitlán and just a few miles from the town itself. Being so near the capital, it faces pressure from urban expansion. Over the time we've worked with El Bosque, however, coffee prices and returns have helped make the farm a top priority for the family, and they remain highly motivated to protect and sustain it.

Five local workers look after the farm year-round, with around 20 more joining during harvest. The hillside is too steep for a mill, so coffee cherries are driven down to the family's wet mill in Amatitlán, where they are depulped, washed, and dried before moving to the warehouse for storage.

Don Francisco and his brothers have moved away from generic commercial coffee by continually raising both their farming and milling standards, and the payoff in the cup is undeniable.

Diverse Yet Focused

Alongside their delicious Guatemalan coffee, the Flores family also cultivates avocados, lemons, and roses for local consumption, a reflection of their resourcefulness and deep ties to the community.

Bourbon has always been the backbone of El Bosque. Over the years, the family has also planted some Pache, a compact mutation of Typica first discovered in Guatemala, alongside Caturra and Catuai.

The Bourbon remains our favourite, but each of the other varietals has its own strengths in the field, and maintaining a diverse mix of coffee plants is a sensible hedge against pests, disease, and an increasingly unpredictable climate.

• Country: Guatemala
• Department: Guatemala Department
• Nearest Town: Amatitlán
• Anacafé Region: Antigua
• Farm: El Bosque
• Producer: Francisco Flores
• Farm Size: 37 hectares
• Altitude: 1,400-1,645 m.a.s.l.
• Variety: Bourbon
• Processing System: Washed

Cupping Notes: Milk Chocolate Digestive, Pecan, Green Apple

Cup of Excellence Cupping Scores

• Clean Cup: 6/8
• Sweetness: 6.5/8
• Acidity: 6/8
• Mouthfeel: 6/8
• Flavour: 6.5/8
• Aftertaste: 6/8
• Balance: 7/8
• Overall: 6/8
• Correction: +36
• Total: 86/100

If you’d like to find out more about how we score coffees, make sure to read our blog post “What Do Coffee Cupping Scores Actually Mean?” and if you’d like to try cupping yourself, we’ve got a guide to that too! What is Coffee Cupping.

Medium Dark - Push this steadily through development and up to the cusp of second crack, perhaps just a pop or two as you finish the roast.