Guatemala Huehuetenango Palhu SHB
Today is my son’s birthday: I can’t believe that another year has passed. He is driving home from science camp as I write, so we won’t celebrate until later. It’s amazing to me how much of your child’s personality changes as they grow, and how much of it stays the same. He still loves birds, enjoys soothing music, has a gentle side that notices the new flowers blooming and brings them to me, and thinks that baseball and golf are the best. I still picture the toddler with a stick throwing and hitting pine cones in the yard, then stopping still when he hears birdsong. Jack Fike, I’m glad to be your mom.
All ready for pioneer days at Malakoff
I spent two days this week camping up at Malakoff Diggins with my daughter’s class. They are studying California history, and the gold rush of 1849. The group dressed in “authentic” garb, got to tour the town of North Bloomfield, or Humbug (thus the header picture of the apothecary), gold panned, and made all sorts of pioneer crafts. There were cloth dolls, wooden toys, tin lanterns, and cooking in a dutch oven with coals from the fire. It was a great experience, for parents and kids alike.
This week we have a new coffee for you: Guatemala Huehuetenango Palhu SHB. This is a single farm micro-lot from from the Finca La Providencia in the town of San Pedro Necta, in the Huehuetenango region (pronounced way-way-ten-ay-go–isn’t that fun to say?). This is the far west of Guatemala, almost to Mexico. Huehuetenango is known as one of the premier coffee growing regions, and this coffee is SHB or Strictly Hard Bean, which means that it is grown above 1350 meters.
Since Huehuetenango is so far from the coast, the logistics of getting the coffee exported can be complicated. For this reason, the coffee is processed on site. According to our broker, here, “the heart of La Providencia is a beautifully maintained mill that begins at a high point on the sloped property, designed to take full advantage of gravity, where the ripe cherries are placed in water and carried through the depulping process on a series of intricate canals to the drying patios below.” Finca La Providencia is owned by Maximiliano Palacios and his family, and they are third generation coffee farmers.
The “Palhu” name of this coffee is a combination of the family name and the growing region. We’ve roasted this light, and in the cup you taste the beauty of the bean: a gentle stone fruit flavor with a smooth chocolate finish. You can try a cup on us this week with the code gold rush*. To all the teachers, parents, and students out there with one more week of school: enjoy the final countdown. May you drink good coffee while looking forward to the summer break. Cheers!
–Holly Fike
*Code good for one free 12 ounce cup of Guatemala Huehuetenango Palhu SHB. Code expires on 6.08.17. Limit one free cup per customer please. Valid only at Carolines Coffee Roasters, 128 S. Auburn Street, Grass Valley, CA. Code/Offer has no cash value.