Country: Honduras
Processing:Natural
Varietal: Catuai & IHCAFE 90
Region: La Paz
Cupping Score: 83.5
Altitude:1800M

Carlos Ernelio Ortiz owns this 20 hectare farm called Finca El Pedrero in the La Paz region of Honduras. Carlos has 15 hectares planted with traditional Honduran varieties plus some newer hybrids like IHCAFE 90 which is rust resistant. 

He also grows avocados here, so a visit always involves both delicious coffee and as many avocados as you can eat. Harvest takes places from January to April. Carlos owns a mechanical demucilaginator for washed coffees and selects only ripe coffees for naturals. All coffees are patio dried. 

La Paz, an area famous for coffee production in Honduras, is high in elevation with cool temperatures. These factors cause coffees to ripen slowly, developing sugars that are then processed in these comfortable climates. These coffees have high fruity sweetness with flavors of berries or peach.

Despite lacking the “sexy” reputation of other Central American coffee-growing countries like Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Guatemala, Honduras has quietly become the bigger producer, exporting more volume than any other nation in the region, and the seventh overall in the world for exports. While there is certainly quantity coming out of Honduras, it can be harder to find truly quality coffees here, though, because the country lacks the infrastructure to support the more nuanced specialty market its neighbors enjoy.

Country: Brazil
Processing:Anaerobic Natural
Varietal: Yellow Catuai
Region: Cerrado

This coffee comes to us from Ismael Andrade whom we were lucky enough to meet and visit in late 2019 before COVID hit. The Andrade family has been involved in coffee growing since 1901.

The Andrade family history began in 1901, with their ancestors at Capim Branco Farm, in Carmo do Paranaíba, High Cerrado, state of Minas Gerais. With the aim to produce high quality coffees, the new generation of Andrade family established their farms in this region during the 70’s.

In the early 90´s, with the need for expansion of coffee production, quality and volume improvement, the brothers acquired São Silvestre farm in Serra do Salitre, state of Minas Gerais, this farm produces high quality coffees because of its climate and altitude between 1.100 and 1.200 meters, which provides ideal conditions for growing coffee due to its perfect balance of wet and dry seasons. The volcanic soils are perfect for growing Yellow Icatu, Yellow Catuaí and Red Catuai varietals, which thrives here and accounts for the majority of the farm’s yield.

The Andrade family have been focussed on elevating the quality of microlots at São Silvestre through innovative, cutting edge processing techniques and investing in equipment. This lot is an anaerobically fermented natural for which cherry’s are sealed in a temperature controlled steel tank and purged of oxygen for controlled and repeatable fermentation. This is a great example of what Brazillian coffees have to ofer and we’re looking forward to visiting São Silvestre again later this year.