June, 2008

Specialty Estate Coffee of the Month - Honduras Coffee

If you close your eyes and breathe in deeply, you can just imagine the wonderful nutty aromas of your freshly brewed cup of Honduras coffee already!!
It might come as a surprise to some? But coffee was not found growing naturally in Honduras. The Spaniards introduced this Arabica variety in the early 1700’s, so it is a younger variety compared with countries like Ethiopia and Brazil who have been growing coffee for much longer.
When you ride through the Honduran highlands, you are traveling through some of the finest coffee country in the world. There are over 90 million Honduran coffee bushes in cultivation with most of them planted in the shade of larger trees.
The coffee itself can be used very successfully when blended with other varieties, particularly coffee’s from the Central American regions. In saying that, I feel this coffee has enough positive qualities to stand alone as a single origin roast.
The higher the altitude at which coffee is grown, the denser the beans, Honduran coffees are no exception with most grown between 4900 & 6400 feet above sea level. The rich volcanic soils are ideal for cultivating coffee; they provide lovely, creamy flavours on the palate.
After numerous roast profiling we found a light to medium roast best suited this particular bean, giving it a medium body with a delicate conclusion. This leaves the coffee oozing a roasted peanut flavour at the front of the palate and a sweet caramel finish.

ENJOY!
The Koffee Dude