All-or-Nothing – Microlot coffee production from small holders.

A special trial from the farmers of Guji, Ethiopia.

A Sweet, Warming (and fruity) Brew

As I write this, the summer is fading into fall and I find myself needing something a bit warmer to get me through the day. This coffee from Hama certainly fits the mood, being a bean that not only warms you up but is also quite sweet (if you put sugar in your coffee better hold back with this one). Smelling these beans reminds me of a (hot?) mixed berry smoothie with aromas of summery white and yellow flowers. There’s a fall aftertaste of sweet tangerines layered into the cup as well.

Why Is Hama So Sweet?

Grown in the birthplace of Arabica coffee, coffees here enjoy an average temperature ranging from 16.5 to 18.5 °C and an annual rainfall of around 1600 ml (that’s not much). Trying to mature coffee cherries in such a cold environment greatly prolongs the maturation process, resulting in a high concentration of sugar. 

Local producers employ natural processing (leaving the pulp on the bean) for 21 days during the dry season. This further concentrates the sugar and ferments the pulp, embedding a fruity acidity in the resulting beans. Careful hand-picking then safeguards the quality, ensuring a sweet and fruity coffee.

If it’s good for the planet it’s good for you.

The El Ciprés Farm

The delightful sweetness of El Ciprés comes from its taste (duh) and also the effort they put into the land and people who grow it. As a Certified member of the Sustainable Agriculture Network and the Rainforest Alliance, El Ciprés is awesomely focused on producing coffee holistically.

Looking to kick up your coffee with a bit of spices?

Are you bored of overwhelming “chocolate” or “nutty” coffees? Do you also avoid anything with tasting notes citing citrus? Then La Soledad might be the bean for you. This coffee has no acidity at all but makes up for it by bringing in some solid spices and a long finish. When roasted light to medium, these beans are sassy. They give off strong notes of cinnamon, cardamom and a few other sweet spices that we honestly couldn’t pin down. The notes evolved in our cups, defying consensus. These are distinctly spicy and will break you out of the coffee doldrums. 

La Soledad’s beans work well in most coffee brewing setups: espresso, pour-over, Moka pot, whatever. They make a killer cold-brew too where the spices are even stronger.  

Ethical to the core

La Soledad may produce spicy beans but their approach to farming couldn’t be more mild. They ensure a healthy, ethical work environment on their plantation. They preserve local water streams, native vegetation and conserve their forests. La Soledad looks after the humans too; providing health care, clean and safe living quarters for workers and families, fair wages and trainings.

A Brief Snapshot of Honduras Coffee History

In addition to holding a few of the world’s most well-known coffees, Central America is among the most diverse places on Earth, running from Mexico to Panama and sitting near the middle of the world’s equatorial zone. The region received the nickname “Bean Belt” because of its prime growing environment–and Honduras is a standout country producing excellent coffee.

The earliest Honduran plantations were in existence by the early 19th century, arriving from the Caribbean. Under Spanish rule, it had a decent following, but once the country gained independence, its popularity blossomed. By the early 2000s, coffee became an increasingly lucrative trade and a major agricultural export.

Due to lacking infrastructure in Honduras, producing quality coffee was initially difficult. Founded in 1970, the Honduran Institute of Coffee significantly improved the quality of the product through coffee-tasting laboratories for its farmers.

Today, thousands of small, independently operated farms employ millions of workers throughout the booming coffee harvesting and processing season. One of these farms is El Pitarrillo, owned and operated by Miguel Angel Paz.

The El Pitarillo Coffee Farm

The El Pitarrillo coffee farm receives its name based on the area of Corquin where it is located. At an elevation of 1250 meters, the farm encompasses 7 hectares, primarily covered in coffee fields. Miguel has owned the farm for over 20 years, planting several varietals to find and compare the most high-quality beans available. Although he mainly cultivates Catuai, he also has rust-resistant breeds: Obata, Icatu, and Lempira.

Once the El Pitarrillo farmers pick the cherries, they are floated and washed before pulping and fermenting overnight. Then, they dry on raised beds for 8 to 15 days, depending on the weather. The result? An exceptional cup of gourmet coffee with a whopping cup score of 87.

Characteristics of Honduras El Pitarillo Gourmet Coffee

The Specialty Coffee Association developed the coffee tasting and scoring methodology known as cupping. Certified samplers with intensive training, called Q-graders, expertly assess the beans, and score them between 0-100. Most commercial-grade coffees receive a score between 60-80. Those scoring above an 80 can don the coveted “specialty coffee” badge, and almost nothing gets a score above 90.

Honduras El Pitarillo coffee has a cup score of 87. It bears repeating because it’s wildly impressive.

These high-quality beans produce an incredibly unique flavour. Tasting notes include papaya and pineapple with muscovado sugar, tamarind, dark chocolate, and vanilla finish.

Because of its crave-worthy flavour profile, the expert roasters at Bean Curious will never roast this premium coffee dark. Why? Because it would kill all the sought-after flavours.

The Original Home of Coffee.

In the homeland of coffee, hidden among the trees in the Kaffa region of Ethiopa, coffee plants grow wild and free. These coffee plants are thought to be the closest in flavour to the original coffee beans first discovered, according to popular legend anyway, by goat herders in the region. There is a wide range of coffee varietals that grow in this forest and although they are carefully tended to, the farmers don’t really focus on a single varietal. This blend doesn’t mean any loss of quality however, the farmers just harvest the best, ripest beans from the tops of these old, mature coffee trees and the result is a much stronger taste of the bean’s origin rather than any differences in the varietal itself. These beans are then sorted by size and wet-processing is used to preserve their character.

Typical flavours from this coffee are rich and earthy with low acidity and a not-so-subtle chocolate aftertaste. To help enhance the chocolate notes and make a richer coffee we toast the beans a bit longer and darker for our roaster’s-choice.