Reserva - Honduras | Medium Roast

Traceability of the coffee:

Roast Level: Medium Roast

Roaster notes: Almond, Cane Sugar and Apple

Variety: Bourbon, Catuai, Caturra, IHCAFE 90, and Lempira

Score: 85 points 

Crop Year: 2024

Process: Washed

Altitude:1100-1700 masl 

About Honduras Reserva 

The Reserva Select program was created to highlight the unique profiles we have found that are inherent to various microclimates in many of the countries from which we source green coffee. Local variables like wind patterns, soil quality, sunlight, elevation, and other environmental influencers have much to do with the common characteristics that separate, say, a Northern Colombian from a Southern Colombian coffee, just as they inform the differences between a Colombian and a Kenyan.

We have found that the profile from higher-elevation farms in Marcala, where good conditions, varieties, and practices all intersect, have produced higher-acidity coffees with good structure and sweetness. Drying is a particularly difficult part of the processing chain that has limited Honduras’s breakthrough as a true specialty origin. Due to the climate, many producers are increasingly turning to fully mechanical drying, which certainly speeds up the drying process but can contribute to overall instability in the moisture content and water activity of the lots, which can result in quality concerns over time.

For the past several years, Semilla Coffee's green-buying team has continued to explore relationships in Honduras, searching for just the right combination of microclimate, variety, processing, and attention to detail. We have developed strong relationships with coffee importers and quality-focused cooperatives such as Cooperativa RAOS, a 250-member organization in Marcala, La Paz, from which we have seen some of the most stable results and the highest potential for micro lots.

Coffee Process

Washed coffee in Honduras will vary from producer to producer, but typically the coffee is picked ripe and de-pulped the same day, then fermented for 12–24 hours in open-air tanks. It is then washed clean of mucilage and spread on patios or raised beds to dry. The drying process can take an average of 15 days, depending on the weather.