About This Coffee
Roel Henriquez has been cultivating coffee his entire life and he’s always learning something new. A third-generation coffee producer, Roel works alongside his mother, from whom he learns new information and skills each and every day.
This lot is IHCAFE-90, a high yielding plant that does well at low altitudes. It may not be known for it’s cup quality, but in Roel’s hands, this coffee demonstrates a wide range of flavors and excellent cup quality.
As a leading member of Cafes Especiales Corquin, S. A. de C. V (CAFESCOR), Roel utilizing his marketing knowledge to develop projects that benefit smallholder producers like himself. CAFESCOR is a leader in certified coffee production in Honduras and is helping member farmers produce high-quality coffees and receive sustainable incomes.
Cultivation
Coffee is grown under dense shade trees that help create the ideal climate for growing sweet, dense cherry. Shade trees include oranges, cedar, laurel and more.
Harvest & Post-Harvest
Roel selectively handpicks ripe, red cherry and processes it on his farm. Ripe cherry is pulped and laid to dry in raised beds. Roel rakes coffee frequently to ensure even drying. It takes approximately 18 days for parchment to dry.
About IHCAFE 90
IHCAFE 90 is a high-yielding plant that does well at low altitudes. Its dwarf size makes it easy to plant trees closer together and increase yields.
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.