Honduras - Organic Lempira Coffee
- Country: Honduras
- Region: Corquin Copan
- Farm: Miguel Angel Paz - El Pitarrillo
- Variety: Lempira
- Altitude: 1250 MASL
- Processing Method: Natural
Miguel Angel Paz has owned the farm El Pitarrillo for 25 years.
The farm is situated at 1250 masl and is 7 hectares of land, most of which is producing coffee.
Miguel has been planting a range of bean varieties to compare their attributes in production and cup quality. The majority of his production is still Catuai, but he also has the rust-resistant varieties; Obata, Icatu and Lempira.
After harvest the coffee cherries are taken to Aruco where they are floated and cleaned, then placed on raised beds in a solar tent for 15 - 20 days to dry.
Honduras has the conditions to produce very good coffees: high altitude, volcanic and fertile soils, an ideal climate and plenty of expertise.
However, a lack of investment and inadequate infrastructure means that our suppliers must work extra hard to find, and support, the best coffees that Honduras offers.
Honduras
No one knows for sure exactly when coffee first reached Honduras, but it is believed that seeds arrived from Costa Rica between 1799 and 1804, amongst the goods brought by travelling merchants.
Today, Honduras is the largest coffee producer in Central America, and the industry plays an important role within the national economy.
Despite the huge scale of its annual coffee production and great potential for both growth and quality development, Honduras is rarely found centre stage in the Central American coffee hall of fame – a mantle more likely coveted by its neighbours, Guatemala, Costa Rica and El Salvador.
And yet on paper the reputation of Honduras should be up there with those countries, since it has the same conditions to produce very good coffees.
The high average annual rainfall, which reaches 240cm in the North of the country, can also complicate the process of drying coffee once it has been harvested, prior to export.
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Honduran speciality coffees are classified using a system categorized by the height at which the coffee was grown. Strictly High Grown (SHG), applies to coffees grown above 1200 masl, and High Grown (HG) above 1000 masl.
ALTITUDE RANGE - 1000 - 1600 MASL
AREAS SOURCED FROM- Copan, Montecillos, Agalta, Opalaca, El Paraiso, Comayagua
NUMBER OF COFFEE FARMING FAMILIES - 110,000