Maya Organica

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Maya Organica

15 Sep

OK now this was one of those chance encounters that makes travel travel. My review here is going to be kind of short because this coffeehouse was not in fact a coffeehouse. If my layout looks a little different for this post, that’s because I switched back to the “classic” editor for this site. It doesn’t automatically take you to the classic anymore; WordPress wants you to use this odd “block” system for editing because it’s new and new is always better and sarcasm is hopefully obvious. The traditionalist in me was quite vexed needless to say. Anyhow, feel free to comment if you see anything that looks vaguely off-putting and I’ll try to fix it this weekend. OK, on to the story!

Maya Organica is a single-region, small-batch coffee roasting company that I would never have known existed if it hadn’t been for a drive down Linglestown Road outside (you guessed it) Linglestown, PA. There was a small local crafts festival going on and Maya Organica was set up in a temporary stall on the outskirts, and the folks working here were busily packaging up bags of craft coffee for the late-August crowd. The organization is actually based out of Harrisburg but there’s a lot of travel between here and Guatemala being undertaken by the co-owners of the business. That would be David (pronounced da-VEED) and his family. He is himself Guatemalan and a former humanitarian aid worker. Fitting then than Maya Organica is staunchly fair trade and environmentally conscious in its production values. Getting back to basics (and by ‘basics’ I mean not screwing over planet Earth or workers) is highest on their list of priorities.

I got their Highland Huehue. By ‘got’ I mean I bought half a pound of it since they weren’t actually brewing individual cups on site. This was a totally organic Arabica coffee that was situated right at the middle of their light-to-dark spectrum. Like most Arabicas this is rather intense and acidic, but in a mellow way. There’s the often-present nutty flavor that Arabica is also known for, but in the case of the Highland Huehue the nutty flavor wasn’t overwhelming whatsoever. Except on on bouquet. Smelling it in your cupboard, the nutty intensity is there (and makes a nice background scent for coffee lovers), but as I said it’s an intensity with decidedly ’rounded edges’ once actually brewed through a coffee filter. It makes a great, solid go-to coffee for everyday drinking and I’m looking forward to trying their other options.

Problem is, I have no idea when the next little ‘pop up’ event will be that will include this coffee-shop-on-the-fly. I know I’ll be looking them up to place an order sometime soon, but I’ll also be looking along the side of the road as I travel about this fall. If you see a coffee stall with a man and woman who look like they’re having too much fun being way too busy, stop by for a bag of beans.