Guatemalan vs Colombian Coffee: Altitude Grades vs Bean-Size Grades, Regions, Cup Profiles and Volumes (2026)

Guatemalan and Colombian coffee are both overwhelmingly arabica, but the labels on the bag measure different things: Guatemala’s top grade (SHB, Strictly Hard Bean) is about growing altitude, while Colombia’s FNC grades by bean size (Supremo, Extra, Excelso). Guatemala’s coffee association, Anacafé, profiles eight regions; Colombia’s growers’ federation, the FNC, profiles 23. Colombia grows about four times as much coffee. This page sets the two side by side using only what Anacafé, the FNC and the US Department of Agriculture publish, and leaves any verdict on which is better to your own cup.

TL;DR: Guatemala: 8 Anacafé regions at 4,300 to 6,500 ft, 81% of exports graded SHB, about 98% arabica. Colombia: 23 FNC coffee regions, 100% arabica, graded by screen size (Supremo on screens 17-18, Extra 16, EP 15, UGQ 14), main harvest October to December plus an April to June mitaca. Production forecasts for 2026/27: Colombia 13.4 million bags, Guatemala 3.13 million.

Quick summary

Grading: altitude versus bean size

Guatemala. Anacafé’s coffee-types page ties grade to growing altitude, and USDA’s April 2026 Guatemala coffee annual puts 81 percent of exports in the strictly hard bean class. The other grades in USDA’s quality breakdown are Hard Bean, Prime and Extra Prime. Our guide to Guatemalan coffee regions and buying beans explains each grade and the Antigua origin mark.

Colombia. The FNC’s green-coffee page sorts beans by screen size (malla), measured on a sample:

The same page’s picture gallery labels the screen-16 coffee Supremo malla 16 and the screen-15 coffee Europa malla 15, so the FNC uses more than one name for some sizes. It sells Excelso as its mainstream commercial coffee with a classic Colombian profile, and its glossary defines Excelso as a carefully sorted green bean, selected in the hulling mills.

So a Guatemalan SHB and a Colombian Supremo are not equivalent labels: one tells you how high the coffee grew, the other how big the beans are.

Regions and cup descriptors

Guatemala: Anacafé’s eight regions

Anacafé’s English-language site gives each region an altitude band and a one-line cup note (read 4 November 2026). Acatenango Valley and Highland Huehue are both described as grown up to 6,500 feet (2,000 meters).

Anacafé notes that five of the regions are volcanic and three are not, with Huehuetenango the highest and driest of the three non-volcanic ones.

Colombia: the FNC’s regional profiles

The FNC’s Café de Colombia site profiles aroma, flavour, acidity and body for 23 departments, in Spanish. A selection of the best-known growing areas (Spanish as published, English gloss after):

Across all 23 departments the FNC rates acidity as medium in 18, medium-high in 4 (Huila, Tolima, Cesar, Chocó) and high in 1 (Cauca).

Species, varieties and processing

• Guatemala. USDA’s April 2026 report says arabica covers about 98 percent of planted area and all of it is shade-grown; robusta covers the other 2 percent. Catimor and Caturra make up nearly half of plantings, followed by Catuai, Sarchimor and Bourbon, each under 10 percent of farms. Roughly one in three arabica plantations has been replanted with hybrids that tolerate rust.
• Colombia. The FNC’s glossary says Colombian coffee plants are Coffea arabica, and its Café de Colombia site says every cherry is picked by hand and the beans are washed and dried in the open air. USDA’s May 2026 Colombia report puts the share of coffee area under rust-resistant varieties at 87 percent, against 35 percent in 2010, and names newer Cenicafé varieties (Castalia, Celestra, Cocoon) alongside Castillo 2.0.

Harvest

USDA’s Colombia report gives two peak harvests: the main crop from October to December and the mitaca from April to June, mostly in Colombia’s central coffee zone, with one region harvesting year-round. For Guatemala, the Anacafé region pages and the USDA annual used here do not give harvest months; our coffee tours guide and Antigua coffee tours page cover what you can see on a farm visit.

Volumes and buyers

The Guatemala report prints two different export forecasts in two sections; our regions and buying guide shows both.

Tasting both in Guatemala

To compare the two yourself, taste them at the same roast level. In Guatemala, a farm tour in Antigua, Acatenango or Huehuetenango lets you taste regional Guatemalan lots at source. If you are carrying beans home, check our guide to bringing Guatemalan coffee home. Choosing between the two countries for the whole trip rather than the coffee? See Guatemala or Colombia.

Sources

• Anacafé, Guatemalan Coffees, Regions and profiles (eight region pages): https://www.guatemalancoffees.com/main/regions-and-profiles/ (read 4 November 2026)
• Anacafé, Guatemalan Coffees, Coffee types: https://www.guatemalancoffees.com/main/coffee-types/ (read 4 November 2026)
• Federación Nacional de Cafeteros, Café verde: https://federaciondecafeteros.org/cafe-verde/ (read 4 November 2026)
• Federación Nacional de Cafeteros, Glosarios: https://federaciondecafeteros.org/glosarios/ (read 4 November 2026)
• Café de Colombia (FNC), Regiones cafeteras: https://cafedecolombia.com/regiones-cafeteras/ (read 4 November 2026)
• Café de Colombia (FNC), Denominación de origen: https://cafedecolombia.com/denominacion-de-origen/ (read 4 November 2026)
• Café de Colombia (FNC), De la semilla a la taza: https://cafedecolombia.com/de-la-semilla-a-la-taza/ (read 4 November 2026)
• USDA FAS, Coffee Annual, Guatemala, GT2026-0003: https://apps.fas.usda.gov/newgainapi/api/Report/DownloadReportByFileName?fileName=Coffee%20Annual_Guatemala%20City_Guatemala_GT2026-0003 (read 4 November 2026)
• USDA FAS, Coffee Annual, Colombia, CO2026-0008: https://apps.fas.usda.gov/newgainapi/api/Report/DownloadReportByFileName?fileName=Coffee%20Annual_Bogota_Colombia_CO2026-0008 (read 4 November 2026)