Exploring Central America in Your Cup

Our Recon Subscription this month explores the nuances of Central America. Over the years, we’ve roasted several coffees from this region, including beans from Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Honduras. We love Central American coffees, and if you haven’t tried our El Salvador yet, you’re missing out!

This month, the two coffees in your box come from Costa Rica and Guatemala. Though only about 600 miles apart—with Guatemala to the north—these two coffees bring unique perspectives on Central American flavor. Both were harvested in December and grown at high altitudes, which makes a big difference in taste (more on that later).

The Main Bag: Costa Rica Tarrazú

Our featured coffee comes from Costa Rica via Royal New York Coffee importers. This is a sweet coffee with good body and a lively touch of acidity.

Flavor Notes:
☕ Caramel
🍫 Milk Chocolate
🍑 Plum-like finish

If you’ve been with us for a while, this one may feel familiar. It isn’t our first Costa Rican offering—in fact, due to popular demand both inside and outside the roastery, we brought it back and are excited to share it with you again!

Why It Stands Out

• Grown in the Tarrazú region at about 1,300m (4,265ft).

• Classified as a Super Hard Bean (SHB) thanks to its density. At high altitudes, coffee matures more slowly, which allows the seed to develop a denser, “harder” structure.

• Processing: washed and mechanically dried before shipping.

The result? A cup that’s balanced, structured, and consistently satisfying.

The Sample Bag: Guatemala Huehuetenango

Our sample bag is a returning staple here at Bugle Call: a Guatemalan coffee from the Huehuetenango region. Did you pronounce that right? Don’t worry—we’ll give you another try: weh-weh-ten-ango. Fun, right? Now you can flex your new linguistic skills with your non-coffee friends and sound like a true aficionado.

Like the Costa Rican, this coffee is an SHB grown at high altitude (1,624m / 5,328ft) and processed using the washed method. It shares caramel and milk chocolate notes, but diverges with a bright, citrusy twist: an orange-zest finish.

Flavor Notes:
☕ Caramel
🍫 Milk Chocolate
🍊 Orange Zest Finish

Compared to the Costa Rican, the Guatemalan comes across as “brighter,” with a touch more acidity, while keeping sweetness and body at similar levels. It’s dependable, complex, and has been part of our lineup for years for good reason.

Roaster’s Thoughts

Now let’s talk about what went into roasting these coffees.

Costa Rican Tarrazú
For this coffee, we did three test roasts—light, medium-light, and medium. Normally, we test across light, medium, and dark, but right away we knew we weren’t going dark with this coffee. We wanted to explore the lighter range instead.

After cupping, we landed on a medium roast as the sweet spot. The lighter profiles didn’t bring out enough body, while the medium roast balanced sweetness and structure beautifully.

• Drop temp: 408°F

• Development time: ~3 minutes

Guatemalan Huehuetenango
The Huehuetenango (you practiced that again, right?) has a similar roast profile but with slight adjustments:

• Drop temp: 411°F

• Development time: ~3:30 minutes

This makes it still a medium roast, but a little more developed—slightly “darker”—than the Costa Rican. We used our established Guatemalan roast profile as a baseline, which gave us predictability when cupping the two together.

The Joy of Comparison

One of the most exciting parts of coffee exploration is comparing side by side. Both the Costa Rican and Guatemalan are washed, both highlight caramel and chocolate, and both come from high altitudes that produce dense, structured beans. But in the cup, they diverge in fascinating ways:

• Costa Rica: smooth, sweet, with a plum-like finish.

• Guatemala: equally sweet, but with a brighter, citrus zest kick.

Even if neither one becomes your ultimate favorite, we hope this experience piques your curiosity and encourages more exploration. Each coffee you try brings you closer to understanding your own preferences—and that journey is just as important as the destination.

Thank you for taking this adventure with us. We loved roasting and developing these coffees, and we hope you enjoy them just as much.

Happy cupping!!

—Adam