Over several years now, we’ve been admiring Honduran coffee from afar, constantly tasting samples, assessing quality and seeking the right opportunity to work more closely with producers in the country.
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We believe we’ve found that in Benjamín Paz and his family’s company San Vicente. Benjamín has connected us with several small producers in the Santa Barbara region over the past few seasons, and we were finally able to meet several of them on their farms last year. A highlight of the trip was the day we spent with the Sagastume family, who we’ve been buying from for three years now.
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We believe we’ve found that in Benjamín Paz and his family’s company San Vicente. Benjamín has connected us with several small producers in the Santa Barbara region over the past few seasons, and we were finally able to meet several of them on their farms last year. A highlight of the trip was the day we spent with the Sagastume family, who we’ve been buying from for three years now.
Santa Barbara
The Santa Barbara region provides some challenges to those hoping to grow high quality coffee. It stretches from the border with Guatemala into the central highlands, home to some of the highest altitude in the country. The slopes of the Santa Barbara mountain extend steeply from the banks of Lago de Yojoa, leading to a breathtaking view back down to the lake from many of the farms we visited. There is also a large area of jungle nearby, leading to high humidity and a great deal of rainfall, even during harvest season, which creates great difficulty in consistently drying coffees.
This means that producing natural coffees consistently here is almost impossible, so we have only purchased washed and honey coffees from the region so far. The low night temperatures here, along with the wet climate, can also lead to ‘freezing’ of the coffee plant, where cherries cease to mature on the tree, leading to crop loss. These cool conditions also mean that harvest is around 2 months later than much of the rest of the country, and can stretch far into the summer.
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The Sagastume family
The Sagastume family have been involved in coffee in Santa Barbara for over a century, long before the recent recognition of the potential of the area. Pedro Sagastume’s father was allocated almost 80 hectares from state-owned lands in 1908, near the village of El Zapote. This land had to be split between Pedro and his 9 siblings on his father’s death, but Pedro’s hard work over the years has expanded his land, earning his place in the speciality coffee market through tireless research and savvy investment. Pedro is the head of the family, and as he grows older, he has begun to split the family’s land between his sons Yeltsin, Yerin and Heyvis.
Coffee production is still a family effort; all of the picked cherry is still processed at the wet mill next to the family home. We visited the Sagastumes in March 2023, touring each of their pockets of land, and observing their work in processing, some of the most organised and professional we saw on our trip. We also tasted honey from the Sagastume’s production, a small side project enabled by the healthy bee population at the farms, a testament to their careful approach to farming, with no chemical fertilisers or pesticides used.
We have tasted several lots from the Sagastume family in recent years, and have been consistently impressed. This year’s selection was able to expand after our visit, and we look forward to continue our relationship.
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This month's coffees
Over several years now, we’ve been admiring Honduran coffee from afar, constantly tasting samples, assessing quality and seeking the right opportunity to work more closely with producers in the country.
Washed Parainema
This Parainema was grown on one of the plots managed by Heyvis, harvested in April of 2023. Parainema is a native Honduran varietal, created in response to a nematode outbreak in the mid 80’s. The Honduran Coffee Institute carefully selected Parainema from hybrid strains, looking for nematode resistance while maintaining positive attributes in the cup.
This lot was processed using a washed method; de-pulped, fermented for 20 hours and washed carefully, before 14 days of drying on raised beds underneath plastic solar drying tunnels. This leads to a fresh and bright profile with aromatic citrus and crisp redcurrant balanced by an intense caramel sweetness.
Honey Parainema
This Parainema was grown on Heyvis’ brother Yeltsin’s plot, El Ocote, harvested in April of 2023. This lot was process using a honey process; de-pulped and dried directly on raised beds, protected from the elements by plastic panelling in the Sagastume’s solar drying house. This lot is showcasing ripe fruit notes, reminiscent of red grape and blackcurrant, balanced by a deep toffee sweetness.
Aeropress
For Honduran coffees, we like to use an Aeropress to highlight the juicy and fresh profile they offer. The Aeropress is a super easy and fun brewer, offering a lot of possibilities for brewing sweeter and rounder cups with a longer brew time. It can also brew brighter and juicier cups with a quicker brew time.
Data
15 grams of medium fine grind
230 grams of water 30-50 ppm 92°C
Aeropress inverted
Method
0:00 Pour all the water (230g) onto the coffee
1:30 Stir 6 times back and forth, add the cap with a paper filter, flip the Aeropress, and press into a cup or glass server
Total brew time should be 2:00 - 2:15
