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BEST COFFEE
Victoria, our coffee reviewer
Coffee with Victoria
🇬🇹Guatemala · Huehuetenango

Guatemala — Ampersand Coffee Roasters

TRADITIONAL PROCESSOur reviewPurchased by us
TagsGuatemalaHuehuetenangonullWashedMedium roastCaramelArabicaSingle originAsobagriAsobagri cooperativeAmpersand Coffee RoastersIndependentOur reviewPurchased by us

A round, velvety Guatemala that nails the comfort zone. Dark chocolate and caramel up front, a bright line of ripe red grape keeping it lively, and a sourcing story that actually holds up. This is the bag we keep reaching for on ordinary mornings.

Our rating
4.9 out of Five Stars
4.9/5 on our star rating scale
🇬🇹GuatemalaWashedMedium roast
Brand
Ampersand Coffee Roasters
Roaster website
Visit website
Country
🇬🇹Guatemala
Region
Huehuetenango
Town
Santa Cruz Barillas
Farm / Station
Asobagri member farms
Farmer / Producer
Asobagri cooperative
Species
Arabica
Type
Single origin
Grade
Not specified
Variety
null
Process
Roast
Medium
Tasting notes
Chocolate, Caramel, Ripe red grape
Fermentation
—
Drying
—
Product page
Roaster's site
Date reviewed
Oct 25, 2026
Why some details are blank
  • VarietyNeither the current bag imagery nor Ampersand’s exact product page states the variety; cooperative-level varieties are not assumed for this release.
  • Roast dateNo verified roast date is published for this bag.
  • AltitudeAmpersand’s exact product page does not state an altitude; Asobagri’s cooperative-wide ranges are not assigned to this specific release.
  • Exact lot regionAsobagri members farm across Huehuetenango and Quiché, but Ampersand does not identify the exact lot’s municipality or subregion.
Editorial disclosure: Purchased by us
Spotted an error? Report a correction →
The transparency chain

FROM THE BAG
BACK TO THE LAND.

Every link we could verify, traced in one place. Follow the chain as far as it goes — when the industry doesn't disclose a link, we say so instead of guessing.

  1. 01
    The name on the bag
    Guatemala — Ampersand Coffee Roasters
  2. 02
    The brand
    Ampersand Coffee Roasters
  3. 03
    The roaster
    Not disclosed
  4. 04
    The variety
    null
  5. 05
    The farm
    Asobagri member farms
  6. 06
    The farmer
    Asobagri cooperative
  7. 07
    The region
    Huehuetenango
  8. 08
    The country
    🇬🇹Guatemala
From the producer

Asobagri is a cooperative of small-scale coffee farming families across Huehuetenango and Quiché, Guatemala. The cooperative has organic and Fair Trade certifications, and some member farms participate in the Smithsonian Bird Friendly program. Ampersand’s current product page does not label this exact release Bird Friendly.

From the roaster

Ampersand Coffee Roasters in Boulder describes this coffee as a strong milk and dark chocolate profile with a lining of sweet grape, well balanced with a round, velvety body. For each pound purchased, they donate five cents to the Cafe Femenino Foundation, and 0.5% of sale proceeds support the International Women's Coffee Alliance.

Why this coffee is noteworthy

A comfortable chocolate-and-caramel profile backed by current organic and Fair Trade certifications. Ampersand also states that each purchased pound supports the Cafe Femenino Foundation and that 0.5% of product proceeds supports the International Women’s Coffee Alliance.

Our review

The full tasting

THE FIRST SIP

This one opens soft and chocolatey, like milk chocolate melting into a warm cup. The body is round and velvety, exactly as the roaster promises, and nothing about the first sip asks anything of you. It is immediately easy to drink, and by the second sip the caramel sweetness starts to show up. I kept thinking this tastes like someone designed the perfect middle of the road coffee, in the best sense. No sharp edges, no weird funk, just a smooth, welcoming cup.

WHAT WE TASTED

The chocolate deepens as the cup cools, moving from milk chocolate toward something darker, almost brownie like. Caramel carries the sweetness through the middle, and then the ripe red grape shows up right on schedule, a juicy little lift that keeps everything from getting heavy. That grape note is the surprise here. Comfort coffees usually go flat and sweet, and this one stays awake. The finish is clean and cocoa tinged, and the medium roast keeps the origin character right where it should be.

WHO GREW IT

The beans come from Asobagri, a cooperative of small-scale farming families across Huehuetenango and Quiché. The current Ampersand listing identifies this coffee as Fair Trade and organic and directs five cents per purchased pound to the Cafe Femenino Foundation plus 0.5% of sale proceeds to the International Women’s Coffee Alliance. Asobagri participates in Bird Friendly programs at the cooperative level, but Ampersand’s current product page does not label this exact release Bird Friendly, so we do not claim that certification for this bag.

WHO THIS IS FOR

This is the coffee for the person who wants one dependable bag that makes an excellent cup every single morning, no ceremony required. It shines as a drip or pour over, behaves beautifully as espresso, and holds its body in a French press. If you usually buy chocolate forward medium roasts at the grocery store, this is the upgrade that will ruin those for you. If you chase wild experimental lots, this is your palate cleanser, your Sunday morning coffee. It ranked near the top of everything we have tasted this year.

How we'd brew it

We loved this as a drip brew and a pour over at a 1:16 ratio with a medium grind, water just off the boil. It also pulls a chocolatey, low acid espresso if that is your setup. Let it rest four or five days after roast and the grape note gets even clearer.

Guatemala — Ampersand Coffee Roasters — supplied coffee image 1
Bag — front
Guatemala — Ampersand Coffee Roasters — supplied coffee image 2
Bag — back
Editorial sacred-geometry artwork for Guatemala — Ampersand Coffee Roasters; not a documentary photograph

Editorial illustration

Editorial sacred-geometry artwork for Guatemala — Ampersand Coffee Roasters; not a documentary photograph

Editorial illustration

Our star ratings
Aroma
4.9
Flavor
4.9
Balance
5.0
Body & Mouthfeel
4.9
Finish
4.9
Overall
4.9
The final rating
Average of all six criteria
4.9/ 5
The internet pulse

What the internet is saying about this coffee

Research complete — no qualifying reviews yet

Our research pipeline scanned public reviews, videos, forums and discussions for this coffee (last pass 2026-10-25) and found no independent review of this exact release that meets our verification standards. When qualifying sources appear, they'll be published here.

What we found

Non-exact, seller, directory, generic-roaster, different-release, duplicate, and older-release sources were excluded. No qualifying independent exact-release review remains.

Until then, meet the people behind it:

Meet the farm: Asobagri member farms →Meet the farmer: Asobagri cooperative →
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