[coffee producing area] the "unpopular" top coffee production in Central America-is Honduran coffee good?

Professional coffee knowledge exchange more coffee bean information please follow the coffee workshop (Wechat official account cafe_style)

Have you ever had Honduran coffee? Honduras, a country located in Central America, is particularly unpopular among many Central American coffee-producing countries because it has not established diplomatic relations with China. But you may not know that since 2011, Honduras has surpassed Guatemala in coffee production to become the largest coffee producer in Central America and one of the top 10 coffee producers in the world!

Why do we always feel that Honduran coffee has a bad reputation?

In fact, most Honduran coffee is sold to Europe, and it is very popular among Europeans. Germany is the main importer of Honduran coffee, importing nearly 40 million kilograms of Honduran coffee every year. Although some Honduran coffee is sold to the United States and Japan, sales are not as impressive as in Europe.

On the development of coffee in Honduras

In fact, Honduran coffee is not so smooth at the beginning, compared with other Central American countries: Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nicaragua and so on, coffee development can be said to be very late.

The main reason for this is that the coffee industry in Honduras has been delayed by the lack of transportation to connect the origin to the port, but after 1970, the government created an official agency for coffee: Instituto Hondure ñ o del Cafe (IHCAFE), which is dedicated to improving the quality of coffee, and coffee trees can be planted all over Honduras. Honduras's coffee production surpassed that of Costa Rica and Guatemala in 2011!

However, Honduras is also facing the problems of leaf rust and global warming, which is a major issue in Honduras.

Flavor of Honduran coffee producing area

Honduras has six major coffee producing areas, mainly located in the western and southern regions of Copan, Opalaca, Montecillos, Comayagua, Agalta Tropical and El Paraiso, of which three are the main producing areas:

Montesius (Montecillos): the highest altitude producing area in Honduras, the coffee is bright and rich in texture, full of rich fruit and sweet aromas with citrus aromas.

Copan: the coffee beans of Koban are all chocolate flavor, mellow taste and high sweetness.

Agalta Tropical: the coffee beans in this area have a balance of honey sweetness and acidity, with chocolate tonality.

Generally speaking, the coffee alcohol and sweetness of Honduras are quite high, all fruit tone, but sometimes with nutty, taffy flavor, is quite multi-layered coffee.

Honduran coffee grading

In Honduran coffee, the classification system of altitude and defect rate is adopted, in which the classification of defect rate is divided into two standards: the United States and Europe, which are not explained here, while the classification of altitude is as follows:

Strictly High Grown (SHG): over 1200 meters.

High Grown (HG): over 1000 meters.

Central Standard (CS): planted more than 600m above sea level.

Generally speaking, the data of a coffee bean will show both the elevation grade and the defect rate grade to show the grade of the coffee. In addition to this grading system, the recent boutique coffee competition held in Honduras also helps to produce higher quality boutique coffee!

Honduras Fine Coffee Competition-- Best bid for Honduras (Best of Honduras Late Harvest)

Best of Honduras Late Harvest is mainly organized by 2015 WBC world champion Sasa Sestic and his green bean team Project Origin, while the second session was held in 2018 last year.

The purpose of this bid is to encourage farmers to produce high-quality coffee. Another factor is that the elevation of Honduras varies greatly, ranging from 1200 meters to 1700 meters. For example, in Santa Barbara producing areas, due to the high terrain, the berry ripening period is relatively late. Most Honduran coffee production season is from January to April every year, while the harvest time of these high-altitude farmers may be delayed to June or July. Missing the opportunity to participate in the annual Cup of Excellence Excellence Cup competition, Best of Honduras provides these late-harvested farmers with another opportunity to stand out in the boutique market and enable international buyers to interact directly with farmers face to face.

In addition to a very small part of the bid money that needs to be paid to the Honduran Coffee Association IHCAFE (Instituto Hondure ñ o del Caf é, referred to as IHCAFE) as local transportation infrastructure, R & D expenses, etc., small farmers can get almost full bid gold, which is really a far cry from the market price sold directly to local exporters, and it is nothing more than the most direct income and help for farmers!

Conclusion

The editor believes that the development potential of Honduran coffee is really good, and through the competition, so that more coffee farmers can get a better income, so that they are more motivated to produce better quality coffee, is a great positive cycle!

END