Guatemala. This country sends the largest quantity to the United States, and also produces the best average grades of the Central American districts. Guatemalas are mostly washed and are very stylish. The bean has a waxy, bluish color. It splits open when roasting and shows a white center. Low-grown Guatemalas are thin in the cup, but the coffees grown in the mountainous districts of Cobán and Antigua are quite acidy and heavy in body. Some Cobáns border on bitterness because of the extreme acidity. The Antiguas are medium, flinty beans; while Cobáns are larger. Both grades are spicy and aromatic in the cup, and are particularly good blenders. Properly roasted to a light cinnamon color, and blended with a high-grade combination, Cobáns make one of the most serviceable coffees on the American market.
Guatemalas are generally classified as noted in the Complete Reference Table.
| Mexican Beans—Roasted | Guatemala Beans—Roasted |
Honduras. While the upland coffee of Honduras is of good quality, the general run of the country's production seldom brings as high a price as Santos of equal grade. Nearly all Honduras coffee consists of small, round berries, bluish green in color. Very little of this growth comes to the United States; the bulk of the exports going to Europe, where it commands a high price, especially in France.
Salvador. Salvador coffee is inferior to Guatemala's product, grade for grade. Only a small proportion is washed; and the bulk of the crops is "naturals"; that is, unwashed. The bean is large and of fair average roast. The washed grades are fancy roasters, with very thin cup. The largest part of the production goes to Europe; some twenty-five percent of the exports are brought into the United States through San Francisco.
Nicaragua. The ordinary run of Nicaragua coffee (the naturals) is looked upon in the United States as being of low quality, though the washed coffees from the Matagalpa district have plenty of acid in the cup and usually are fine roasters. Matagalpa beans are large and blue-tinged. Germany, Great Britain, and France take about all the Honduras coffee exported, only about six percent of the total coming to the United States. These coffees are described more in detail in the Complete Reference Table.
Costa Rica. Good grades of Costa Rican coffee, such as are grown in the Cartago, San José, Alajuela, and Grecia districts at high altitudes, are highly esteemed by blenders. They are characterized by their fine flavor, rich body, and sharp acidity. It is frequently declared that some of these coffees are often acidy enough to sour cream if used straight. Due to careless methods of handling, sour or "hidey" beans are sometimes found in chops of Costa Ricans from the lowlands.
Panama. Panama grows coffee only for domestic use, and consequently it is little known in foreign markets. The bean is of average size and tends toward green in color. In the cup it has a heavy body and a strong flavor. The coffee grown in Boquette Valley is considered to be of fine quality, due no doubt to the care given in cultivation by the American and English planters there.
South America