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.