HONDURAS
Single Origin | Filter

Rose Apple. Limeade. Dried Apricot.

In the eastern reaches of Honduras, near the borders of Guatemala and El Salvador, is the department of Ocotepeque. The rich volcanic soils and delicate microclimate make this area ideal for coffee production.  Just outside the town of Mercedes is Cascaritas, a vast farm comprised of various lots, run by Moises Hidardo Hernandez and his mother. Moises is a fourth-generation coffee producer. He is young, and quite entrepreneurial, being one of the founding members of CAFESMO, our exporting partners in Honduras. With his fiancée, he also owns a specialty coffee shop serving specialty Honduran coffee and cacao in the town of Santa Rosa de Copán. He is truly passionate about coffee, brewing V60s at home, and has been producing microlots since 2015.

At Cascaritas, Moises not only grows coffee, but has planted pine, banana trees, American walnut trees, hazel pine, guamo and malcinca to give the coffee shade. He has also been experimenting with newer processing methods with anaerobic fermentation in bags and tanks to amplify the tasting profiles of his coffees.

During the harvest at Cascaritas, this coffee is gathered and delivered to their wet mill in Plan del Rosario. The coffee is submerged in a tank of water to remove any floaters, or low-quality cherries. They are then dispersed on raised beds to dry in the open sun until the ideal moisture content is reached. The dried cherries are then delivered to the CAFESMO partner dry mill to be hulled and prepared for export.

CAFESMO was initiated in 2016 to assist smallholder producers with processing and provide access to international markets. Today, the organization is comprised of over 280 producers, each with 2 – 12 hectares of land, on average. The group is quite diverse, with a mix of men and women, young and old. Coffees are milled with their partners at the Beneficio Santa Rosa. 

This brand new year, we are excited to feature Cascaritas  Parainema, as a microlot single origin to kick-start the month of February. May this follow through with a wave of exciting coffees for the next ten months to come.