Beneficio San Vicente

Quality in Honduras keeps impressing us, partly thanks to the work of visionaries like Benjamín Paz and his company Beneficio San Vicente in helping producers to realise the quality of their coffees, and connecting them to like-minded roasters. San Vicente was started by Benjamín’s father, initially serving as a representative of a small number of growers in his village, and slowly expanding from there.

Benjamín was able to take the company to the next stage during the early years of the speciality movement, capitalising on Santa Barbara’s success in the early Honduran Cup of Excellence competitions in order to forge connections with some early movers in the speciality roasting market. San Vicente is now based in the town of Peña Blanca, where they also run a small speciality coffee shop, cementing the image of coffee as a premium product in the local region.

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. The cool conditions here also mean that harvest is around 2 months later than much of the rest of the country, and can stretch far into the summer.

Finally, finding skilled labour has been a huge challenge in recent years. Almost 15% of the region’s population has left since 2020, due to a multitude of factors. Corruption and a lack of investment have led to a lack of opportunity in the region, while a severe hurricane in November 2020 sped the process, forcing many to turn to criminal gangs, or leave in search of better opportunities.

However, all of these challenges only serve to strengthen the resolve of the people we met here, with the San Vicente project continuing to connect more of these dedicated producers to roasters willing to commit to long-term relationships at premium prices, allowing them to build a more stable future for agriculture in the region.

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 visit the Sagastumes each spring, touring each of their pockets of land, and observing their work in processing, some of the most organised and professional we see each year in Santa Barbara. The Sagastumes’ also have a small production of honey, a small side project enabled by the healthy bee population on the farms, a testament to their careful approach to farming, with no chemical fertilisers or pesticides used.

This Parainema was grown on one of the plots managed by Yeltsin, harvested in April of 2025.

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.

Washed Parainema

This SL28 was grown at Los Quetzales, one of the plots managed by Pedro, harvested in April of 2025.

Los Quetzales is one of the newest and highest altitude plots, the jewel in the Sagastumes’ crown. The family purchased these 18 hectares on the edge of the national park in 2012, planting mainly Pacas and Parainema, but added SL28, Pacamara, Typica and Geisha after realising the incredible quality potential of cherries grown here. This lot is of the SL28 varietal, 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. The bright and intensely berry-like character of the SL28 varietal is clear here, showcasing bright blackberry and caramel.

Washed SL28

We’re excited to have Honduras become a bigger part of what we do, and to continue our partnerships with the Sagastumes, alongside Erin Moreno and Fredy Sabillon. Our local partner, Benjamín Paz, has connected us with several small producers in the Santa Barbara region over the past few seasons, and it’s been a privilege to meet them on their farms each year.

We believe we’ve found our focus in this small group, and look forward to our next trip, coming up this spring.