Owen Fernandez, a farmer in Baihua Village, Honduras, introduces the flavor characteristics of washed Pacas coffee.

Owen Fernandez, Baihua Village, Honduras

This coffee comes from Las Flores in Santa Barbara, Honduras. Baihua Village is famous for its unique flavor due to its microclimate and the evolution of different varieties.

The mountains of Santa Barbara are steep next to the primeval forest, and the rainfall is particularly unstable. In several nearby villages, apart from Baihua Village, El Cedral Village and EL Cielito Village are always victorious in the Outstanding Cup, and the local endemic variety Pacas (Pacas) is a special bean grown in Central America.

Owen Fernandez (Olvin Fernandez), a farmer in Baihua Village, is the son of the Fernandez brothers and the son of an old farmer, Florencia Paz I, who has worked in the coffee field since he was young.

He recalls that in the past, he and his father mainly grew commercial beans. They were not familiar with the varieties and methods of coffee, nor did they know what varieties they were growing on their farm. They only wanted to increase their production.

Later, with the help of the local washing plant, I gradually learned that the market for tasty coffee requires that the farm be more strict in planting and pay more attention to its quality.

After the improvement of quality, Fernandez achieved excellent results in the Super Cup, fifth in 2010, runner-up in 2011, 11th in 2014 and so on.

The farm near Santa Barbara is very small and every step mule is strictly controlled. After the fresh fruit is harvested by hand, the immature fruit is separated from the ripe fruit. The coffee is peeled, fermented for 12 hours, washed and dried on an African drying bed in the greenhouse for 15 days.

The farm where Owen and his brothers work, with very little output, is a standard micro-batch, directly traded in Right Side bakeries in Spain.

Pacas

The Pacas variety originated in El Salvador and is a natural variety of Bourbon. The natural varieties of Bourbon include Kaddura in Brazil and Verasac in Costa Rica.

Due to a single gene mutation, Pacas's plant is smaller than the average bourbon, and the farm can plant the short Pacas intensively to increase the yield of fresh fruit.

Pacas was discovered in 1949 at the Pacas family farm in the Santa Ana producing area of El Salvador, which was then selected by the Salvadoran Coffee Institute and became an important coffee variety in El Salvador, with an estimated yield of about 1%.

Pacas is a variety of bourbon, and many agronomic characteristics are very close to bourbon, such as green leaves, small bean shape, medium grain yield, and no resistance to diseases and insect pests, especially leaf rust. The biggest difference is that the plant is shorter and compact, and the average yield is higher.

The Salvadoran Coffee Institute mixed Pacas with elephant beans to develop the Pacamara, but both Pacas and Pacamara, like their parents Bourbon, had no resistance to leaf rust, which swept Central America in 2012 and caused terrible losses to farmers in El Salvador.

Through the Central American Coffee Cooperation Program, other countries have also introduced Pacas, and the IHCAFE of Honduras was introduced in the 1970s. According to Right Side Bakery in Spain, Pacas, who moved to Honduras, is even better, showing tropical fragrance, dry scent, a high degree of complexity, and very close to the flavor spectrum of African beans.

Owen Fernandez Pacas, Honduras, all washed.

Honduras Olvin Fernandez Pacas fully washed

■ producer: Honduras, Honduras

■ bean seed: Pacas Pacas

■ producing area: baihua Village Las Flores, Santa Barbara Santa Barbara

■ Farm: Mi Paz

■ producer: Owen Fernandez 0lvin Fernandez

■ altitude: 1520 m

■ treatment: full washing Fully Washed

■ flavor: pineapple, white wine, blackcurrant