Cobán

Cobán is Guatemala’s rainforest coffee. Its coffee grows on rolling limestone and clay hills under the influence of the Atlantic, in a climate that is cool, cloudy and wet all year, and a fine mist called chipichipi often drifts down from its clouds. Anacafé describes its coffee as fruity and fine-bodied.

The short version

• Rainforest coffee on limestone and clay hills.
• Cool, cloudy and wet: 3,050–4,060 mm of rain, 85–95% humidity.
• Fresh fruit notes, a fine, balanced body and a pleasant aroma.
• Two seasons, Anacafé says: rainy and rainier.
• About 7% of Guatemala’s coffee (Alta Verapaz, 2016).

What does Cobán coffee taste like?

Anacafé describes distinct fresh fruit notes, a fine, well-balanced body and a pleasant aroma.

The growing conditions

Anacafé’s profile, converted from feet, inches and °F:

	Cobán
Altitude	1,310–1,710 m (4,300–5,600 ft)
Rainfall	3,050–4,060 mm (120–160 in)
Temperature	15–20 °C (59–68 °F)
Humidity	85–95%

Source: Anacafé, Guatemalan Coffees.

That is the most humid of Guatemala’s eight coffee regions. Cobán is cloudy, rainy and cool all year long, Anacafé says, with two seasons, “rainy and rainier”, and its celebrated chipichipi, a fine mist from the dense clouds, often engulfs the region. Most of the coffee grows on the area’s distinctive rolling hills, in limestone and clay soils, under the tropical influence of the Atlantic basin.

How it compares

Cobán is Guatemala’s coolest, most humid coffee region, by Anacafé’s figures:

Region	Temperature	Humidity	Soil
Cobán	15–20 °C	85–95%	Limestone and clay
Antigua	18–22 °C	65%	Volcanic ash and pumice
Huehuetenango	20–24 °C	70–80%	Non-volcanic
Nuevo Oriente	18–25 °C	70–80%	Metamorphic rock
San Marcos	21–27 °C	70–80%	Volcanic

Only Fraijanes and Acatenango have colder minimums, at 12 °C and 14 °C, but they also run much warmer by day. Like most Guatemalan coffee, Cobán’s grows under shade: about 98% of the country’s coffee does, USDA says.

How much coffee does it grow?

Alta Verapaz, the department around Cobán, grew about 7% of Guatemala’s coffee on 10% of its harvested coffee area in 2016, according to the agriculture ministry. It has also been sending more coffee to Guatemala’s Cup of Excellence: Anacafé noted a marked rise in entries from Alta Verapaz by 2015.

Cobán and other Guatemalan origins

• Coffee in Guatemala: the whole country and its eight regions.
• Huehuetenango: the high, dry region.
• San Marcos: the warmest, wettest region.