Honduras is located in Central America, bordered by Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua. The Caribbean Sea forms its northern border, while the Pacific Ocean meets the country’s southern tip. Coffee grows well here, much like the surrounding countries. One of our importers works in this area and brings us excellent green coffee from the western side of the country from a region called ‘Volcan Pacavita Reserve.’ The coffee plants in this part of the country grow and thrive in rich clay soils and are shaded by Inga trees.
The coffee producers in the Pacavita Reserve area of western Honduras have a long tradition of wet milling on their own farms and drying on patios to enhance the quality of their coffee. The coffee from this macrolot we offer has been primarily produced by Silvestre Vasquez and Joel Lopez. There are supplements of coffee to this lot from a new group of specialty growers from the Intibuca and Lempira departments.
Vazquez’s farm is located in Sa Andres, Lempira, which is situated at the top of a mountain called Pico Congolon. The farm is surrounded by two biological reserves, Opalaca and Volcan Pacavita. The average altitude is 1,600 meters above sea level and has rich soil – an ideal climate for growing coffee.
Joel Lopez is a member of a co-op called CAFESCOR (Cafes Especiales de Corquin), located in the department of Copan. Lopez is a fourth-generation coffee producer who runs the farm called Los Lesquines, where his family began growing coffee in 1865. This farm produces mainly Bourbon Caturra and Catuai varieties, with a total of 67 hectares in production.
While we did NOT cup this coffee with the group cupping at the end of January, we did cup it prior to bringing it on board to offer to you, and it is delicious. We also got the rich milk chocolate and almond flavor from it with the bright notes of citrus along with a juicy body. The Q-cuppers gave this coffee a score of 84.3 – a very good score indeed.
Be sure to give this certified organic coffee a try this month for $1.00 off per pound.
We will talk in detail about the steps of cupping and scoring coffee in another blog post. If you’d like to give it a try with us here in the roastery give us a call, send an email, or stop in to get on the waiting list. We’ll be sure to let you know when the next cupping takes place. Perhaps you can attend!
