About This Coffee
Pacayal Coffee was born out of the resilience of Honduran farmers who refused to give up on coffee production in the face of the Roya outbreak of 2013. While their fellow farmers considered emigrating to the United States in search of the American Dream, Edgar and Karen Carillo realized they had great coffee and could start a business that would earn quality-driven farmers a better price through direct market access. In 2014 they founded Pacayal Coffee, which has since grown to 134 members, 54 of whom are women.
The motto of the organization is “quality does not suffer the crisis,” speaking to the dedication of Pacayal Coffee to producing exceptional coffee and improving the livelihoods of farmers.
Pacayal Coffee invests in several initiatives for producers, including best agricultural practices training to prevent Roya, economic empowerment programs for women, sustainable production practices training, and quality research to develop award-winning coffees.
Cultivation
This coffee was produced by Edgar Carrillo himself on his farm "La Torre." A pine forest and tropical climate surround La Torre. It is located close to the border with El Salvador and close to a control tower of the Honduran army that was used in 1969 during the Cold War to prevent the invasion by the Salvadoran army into Honduran territory. That is why the name La Torre was given to the farm.
Edgar has initiated reforestation efforts on non-coffee areas of the farm, planting 1500 hardwood trees as a contribution to his ecological footprint and future generations.
Harvest & Post-Harvest
Edgar has been dedicated to improving the processing and quality of his farm over time, which has led to some truly remarkable and surprising flavor notes in his coffee. With the help of Sustainable Harvest, he has undergone intensive Q Processing training, which has significantly enhanced the quality of his coffee. Currently, he is in the process of renewing his farm with more resilient coffee varieties.
Sustainable Harvest
Sustainable Harvest® is a specialty coffee trader focusing primarily on bringing coffees to market that are sourced from smallholder farmer cooperatives in the supply chain such as indigenous communities, women groups and the next generation of coffee farmers.
Their sourcing model is built on transparency, traceability and direct relationships between quality-minded coffee roasters and best-in-class coffee producers. Sustainable Harvest® has an on-site presence at origin with staff in Mexico, Colombia, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Peru. Each office coordinates their supply including quality management, supplier relationships, source development, logistics, training and capacity building.
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.