About This Coffee
Salvador Santos Martinez and his family have been subsistence farmers for years. In the early 2000s, Salvador began cultivating coffee to supplement the family’s income. The cool temperatures make coffee cultivation more difficult, but they also fosters sweet, dense cherry.
Salvador is a member of Cafés Especiales Corquín (CAFESCOR), a cooperative dedicated to supporting producers and exporting high quality coffee
Cultivation
Coffee grows under a diverse variety of shade trees. In addition to Lempira, Salvador also cultivates IHCAFE-90 and Bourbon.
Harvest & Post-Harvest
Ripe, red cherry is selectively handpicked and delivered to CAFESCOR’s wet mill for processing. At the mill, coffee is pulped, fermented and washed in clean water to remove remaining mucilage. Then, parchment is laid on raised beds to dry. Parchment is raked frequently to ensure even drying.
About Lempira
Lempira is a cross between Timor and Caturra, and is similar to Costa Rica 95. It’s known for its high yield and medium bean size. Lempira is well adapted to warm zones and acidic soils. Its dwarf size and high yield make it especially efficient.
Coffee in Honduras
Honduras is a small yet mighty coffee producer. The country boasts the largest per capita coffee production in the world. Beginning in 2017, Honduras began placing in third place for Arabica production volume globally. For this slot, they compete with Ethiopia—a country 10 times larger than Honduras. The two countries trade between third and fourth place annually, but the achievement is impressive, nonetheless.
Honduras has everything it needs to become a premier specialty coffee producer. The country has the right growing conditions, abundant fertile soils and soaring altitudes (nearly all farms are at more than 1,000 meters above sea level), plus a variety of microclimates.
Beginning in the early 2000s the industry began to focus on quality. Improved infrastructure (better mechanical dryers, centralized wet mills, an increasing number of solar dryers), quality control/assurance trainings (separating lots by qualities, cupping schools, etc.), the rise of specialty-focused exporters, increased volumes of certified coffees and the strengthening cooperative movement all have worked in tandem to make Honduran coffee ‘one to watch’.
It is only in more recent years that coffee production in Honduras has reached specialty levels comparable to other Central American countries, but specialty roasters are responding with enthusiasm. In 2017, a lot in the Cup of Excellence garnered the highest price ever paid for a Cup of Excellence coffee in any country: $124.50 per pound (approximately $56.50 per kg).
Above all, while Honduras increasingly offers high end microlots, what the country arguably represents overall is exceptional value. Quality has improved massively over the last 15 years, and in addition to unique specialty lots, the country offers very solid, clean blenders at very attractive prices.