HONDURAS
Single Origin | Omni

Canned Peach. White Grape Peel. Lemon Tea.

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. Within the town of San Marcos is El Cerro, a farm owned and managed by Idalia Josselin Santamaria. Idalia is a young and smart producer who actually works as the Assistant Manager of Quality Control for CAFESMO, Mercanta's exporting partner organization in Honduras. She learned from the CAFESMO Q-Grader, Sylvia Ventura, all about tasting coffee, assessing quality, and how to cup. Over time, she was able to earn her own Q, and remains in the lab working for CAFESMO.

On top of that, she bought her own land and now manages her own farm. She spends much of her time doing administration, keeping each of the CAFESMO lots organised by size, quality, and location. Her work also includes traceability, and Idalia has a keen interest in carbonic maceration.

El Cerro is situated in El Cerro Colopeca, hence the name of the farm. Idalia’s family helps her maintain the farm since she is quite busy working with CAFESMO. During the harvest at El Cerro, the cherries are carefully handpicked then delivered to the CAFESMO wet mill, roughly 45 minutes away. Here, the coffee is washed and sorted in tanks of water, removing floaters, or low-quality cherries. The coffee is then placed in barrels to aerobically ferment for 32 hours. The barrels are sealed, and the coffee anaerobically ferments for an additional 40 hours. After fermentation, the coffee is dispersed on raised beds to dry in the open sun until the ideal moisture content is reached. Once complete, the coffee is 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 El Cerro, as a microlot single origin to kick-start the month of January. May this follow through with a wave of exciting coffees for the next eleven months to come.