HONDURAS tropical fruits ∙ cherry ∙ caramel
The coffees produced by the Moreno brothers have been our benchmark for Honduran coffee for two years.
This lot produced by Danny Moreno was grown on his father’s original
farm, the El Filo. It’s a washed coffee consisting of Pacas variety only.
H
onduran coffees represent the Moreno family for us. Although their coffee last year was truly exclusive and their success at cuppings is still fresh in our minds, the fruit of their fresh harvest has already arrived. The Moreno brothers, Danny, Miguel, Mario, Jesus, Gerardo and Olvin inherited their farm from their father, who divided it among his six sons. Despite the bothers having their own little “slices” of the farm, they managed to join forces and established a washing station and later purchased elevated drying beds so that they could process the coffee themselves. Honduras is the 7th biggest coffee exporting country in the world, growing mostly Caturra, Catuai, Pacas and Typica varieties. Half of the country’s coffee comes from three growing areas, one of them is Copan (more specifically Santa Barbara) where this coffee is from. This region adds the coffees grown here a hint of cocoa making them sweet and fullbodied. Mostly Pacas, Yellow Catuai and Pacamara varieties are grown in the areas surrounding the
villages Cielito, El Cedral and Las Flores. Drying the beans is extremely arduous in this area, as the coffee trees are very close to the jungle where it rains a lot. The high altitude is also a bit of a challenge, since at 1800 metres the temperature can easily drop to 4-5 °C, which can not only slow down ripening of the beans, but the low temperatures can even destroy them. It is difficult to avoid these risks, but with ingenious drying techniques the farmers can minimize the risks and ensure the high quality of the coffee.
Our coffees taste the best when extracted with water of the proper hardness* range. In order to highlight the best flavour of our roasts we recommend having 5 to 10 days of resting period after roasting, but consume within two weeks of opening. Enjoy!
Santa Barbara is the birthplace of the most characteristic coffees of Honduras. Browsing the list of Cup Excellence award winner farms, we regularly come across the name of this hillside. Coffee farmers in the area are the most innovative in the country. This coffee was grown on the original 2,5 hectare Moreno farm, the El Filo. The harvested Pacas variety cherries were sorted by hand and later wet processed at the family’s washing station. * Total hardness: 50 –175 ppm CaCO3 (2.9–9.8 °d), ppm CaCO3 (2.2–4.2 °d), pH: 6.5-8.0.
alkalinity/buffer: 40 –75 (The SCAE Water Chart)
photo by Café Imports
DANNY MORENO