Honduras: flavor and taste characteristics of selected Highland Coffee

Honduras is located in the north of Central America, facing the Caribbean Sea to the north, the Gulf of Fonseca in the Pacific Ocean to the south, Nicaragua and El Salvador to the east and south, and Guatemala to the west, mostly mountains and plateaus. It has a tropical climate, mild temperature and abundant rainfall, so it is an ideal place for coffee growth.

Honduras produces two kinds of coffee of very good quality, which are highly respected by coffee lovers. One is "Highland Coffee", which grows at an altitude of 1000 to 1500 meters, and the other is "selected Highland Coffee", which represents the highest level of Honduras, which grows at an altitude of 1500 to 2000 meters. Most of the Honduran coffee is exported to the United States and Germany.

The granules of coffee beans in Honduras are large in shape, uniform in size and glossy in color. In order to facilitate harvesting, farmers will prune the coffee trees to no more than 150 centimeters, because if they grow too high, they have to set up ladders to pick, which is not only time-consuming, but also may damage the trees by bending branches. As the ripening period of each fruit of coffee beans is different, in order to maintain the good quality of coffee beans, it is necessary to pick them manually, and then select the ripe fruits. For coffee fruits of the same branch, it often takes several weeks to pick them all.

High-quality coffee in Honduras uses water washing to deal with coffee beans, usually after soaking, when the defective fruit will surface, it can be discarded first. Then put the good fruit into the fruit peeling machine and peel off the peel with the rotating force of the machine. Peeled fruits are screened by machines to select fruits of high quality. Usually the bigger the fruit, the better the maturity. Coffee in Honduras is dried in the sun, so there is always a hint of fruit in the taste.

Honduran coffee has a rich and mellow taste, taste is not astringent, not sour, mellow and aroma are very high, quite personality. Honduran coffee can lead to multiple levels of flavor depending on the degree of roasting. Moderate baking can maximize the sweetness of beans, while deep baking increases bitterness, but sweetness does not disappear. Generally speaking, medium roasting has the best taste and rich and unique aroma, which is favored by coffee lovers in Honduras.