What Guatemalan coffee means on a bag
Guatemalan coffee is coffee grown in Guatemala, most of it on plantations between 500 and 1,500 meters above sea level. The country's coffee association, Anacafé, divides it into eight regions, from Antigua to Highland Huehue, and bags name the region or the farm. Guatemala was Central America's top coffee producer for most of the 20th century, until Honduras passed it in 2011.
The eight regions
Anacafé, founded in 1960 to represent all of Guatemala's coffee producers, defined eight regions under a Guatemalan Coffees brand:
- Acatenango Valley
- Antigua Coffee
- Traditional Atitlán
- Rainforest Cobán
- Fraijanes Plateau
- Highland Huehue, the Huehuetenango highlands
- New Oriente
- Volcanic San Marcos
Altitude shapes the farms. Wikipedia's page on Guatemalan coffee gives 16 to 32 °C (60 to 90 °F) as the best temperature range, says young plants need shade at 500 to 700 meters, and notes that above 1,500 meters plantations must be sheltered from cold north winds.
How coffee took over Guatemala
Coffee farming began in Guatemala in the 1850s and 1860s, at first alongside cochineal, the red dye that had dominated exports since colonial times. Poor cochineal harvests and the arrival of synthetic dyes pushed growers toward coffee, and the liberal reforms of President Barrios after 1871 did the rest. Coffee made up 1 percent of Guatemala's exports in 1860 and 92 percent of their value by 1880.
That growth came at a human cost. The same Wikipedia article describes an 1877 decree that legalized debt peonage and brought back a labor draft for export farms, and Indigenous communities who fled to escape coffee labor demands. It also cites the US Department of Labor finding child labor on some Guatemalan coffee farms in 2013.
How to read a Guatemalan bag
The sources we used do not pin one flavor on Guatemala, and neither should a glossary. What changes the cup is the region, the farm and the processing, and Massachusetts roasters label all three. A few examples from their own sites:
| Label on the bag | What it tells you | Example |
|---|---|---|
| A region | Where in Guatemala it grew | Red Barn's and Atomic's Huehuetenango; Shelburne Falls' Guatemalan Antigua |
| A farm or producer | A single estate or grower | Gracenote's Finca Los Pinos; Broadsheet's Pedro Perez Domingo; George Howell's El Injerto |
| A variety | The plant type | George Howell's El Injerto Red Pacamara |
| A process | How the fruit was removed and dried | Aero's Guatemala Bolsa honey |
| A certification | Farming or trade standard | Esselon's Guatemala Fair Trade Organic; Equal Exchange's Organic Guatemala |
Roast level matters as much as origin: Equal Exchange sells its organic Guatemala as a light roast, while Fazenda puts a Guatemala in Midnight Blue, a dark espresso blend.
Guatemalan coffee from Massachusetts roasters
Sixteen of the 20 Massachusetts roasters we list sell a Guatemalan coffee or use one in a named blend, as we read their own sites on September 27, 2026. Beyond the examples above: Broadsheet's Concepcion Huista, Aero's Kape, Speedwell's La Providencia, Fazenda's Candelaria and its Protocol espresso with a Huehuetenango component, Dean's Beans' Guatemalan Los Jovenes, Jaho's Santa Rosa Blue Ayarza, a direct trade organic Guatemala from Three Fins, and Guatemalas from Mike Shea's and Acoustic Java.
These are local favorites we list, and a listing does not mean the roaster is part of the club. A Guatemalan roasted in Salem or Orange still pays a Massachusetts roaster to buy, roast and pack it, and you can ask that roaster where it came from. Why Massachusetts roasters matter.
Guatemalan coffee in the club
Choose single origin in the plan builder and each roaster picks a single origin for your box; with this many Massachusetts roasters carrying a Guatemala, it is a common pick, though never a promise. $16.99 a bag, 12 oz, first bag free (you pay $7.99 shipping). The single origin plan.
Related terms and sources
Related: Colombian coffee, Brazilian coffee, Pacamara, honey process, altitude.
Read September 27, 2026: Wikipedia, Coffee production in Guatemala (regions, altitudes, temperatures, history, exports, Anacafé, labor). Roaster facts from each roaster's own pages.