Introducing El Guayabo

Grown near Lake Yojoa’s volcanic field along the Santa Barbara mountains, a gentle microclimate and biodiverse terroir contribute to El Guayabo’s delicate peach flavors. El Guayabo is higher than most coffee farms in Honduras in an area inaccessible by roads and home to over 800 plant species and 400 bird species. At this height, the coffee matures more slowly, and the coffee cherries develop even deeper and more intense flavors.

El Guayabo is named for the single guava tree that grows on producer Mario Alexis Moreno Leiva’s plantation. In the four years Mario Alexis has managed the farm, El Guayabo has won the Cup of Excellence twice in a row, and this particular edition of El Guayabo is a spectacular, competition-grade 90 points.

El Guayabo was roasted by Fuglen Coffee Roasters in Tokyo, Japan. Fuglen, which means “the bird” in Norwegian, has a long and storied history. It began in 1963 and has been serving coffee continuously since; several decades ago, Norwegian barista champion Einar Kleppe Holthe bought the café (rumor has it, for a mere 15 cents) and restored it with mid-century furniture and a host of offerings from select Norwegian roasters. Though maintained as one of the best cafés in Oslo (and now designated a cultural heritage site), Fuglen was a multiroaster café and not a roastery.

This changed in 2007, when Holthe, traveling to Tokyo for the world barista championships decided to setup an outpost there. Fuglen Tokyo opened in 2012 as a sister café, and in 2014, it became the exclusive roastery arm of Fuglen as well, with the impossibly disciplined and precise Kenji Kojima as its head roaster. Today, in a very worldly fashion that speaks to Collected’s spirit, Fuglen’s Oslo café receives its coffee from its roastery in Tokyo, which roasts in a light, Scandinavian style.

El Guayabo has the delicate, floral fragrance of white peach, a mellow sweetness rounded out by elderflower and lemon zest, and an underlying note of almond extract. In the mouth, El Guayabo has clear and distinct notes of white peach—quite simply the freshest peach juice you’ve had. Its flavors are balanced out by a striking combination of sweet and tart reminiscent of limoncello. Towards the finish, the almond notes of frangipane come through, giving El Guayabo a smoothness and roundness.