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.

BufCoffee – A woman led endevour.

Bufcoffee is one of those companies that you just can’t help falling in love with. Epiphanie Mukashyaka founded Bufcoffee in 2003 because she was passionate about coffee, and she wanted to help lift others in her community who needed a helping hand. As a widow of seven children, Epiphanie knows a thing or two about perseverance – and about neighbors helping neighbors.

In order to follow her dream of bringing high-quality coffee production to her community, Epiphanie learned everything she could about the coffee trade, went through tons of training on all levels of fully washed coffee production and quality control, and quickly achieved something amazing: she became one of the region’s only female coffee producers!

But Epiphanie didn’t stop there, she shared her company’s success with her community by providing water sanitary systems, health insurance for the farmers, and generally improving living standards. They’ve even built a local school!

Bufcoffee Tasting Notes

From the moment you open a bag of Bufcoffee coffee beans and smell the wonderful aromas, you know you’re getting a world-class coffee. The beans are also Rainforest Alliance certified, by the way.

Bufcoffee beans are grown in the Nyamagabe District, part of the Southern Province of Rwanda. The coffee bean trees are located in areas with an elevation of between 1,920 – 2,100 meters, and it’s this high elevation that gives the beans their crisp, complex flavor. Trust us when we say, there’s something special about these beans.

You see, growing coffee plants at higher elevations stresses the bushes, which results in a smaller yield of beans. The benefit to growing coffee fruit in conditions like this is that the beans that are produced have a more concentrated flavor, and a harder exterior – both desirable qualities in high-end coffee beans.

To understand this process better, think of the way stress impacts grape vines. The older the plant, the more the roots must fight for water, and the more stressed they become. Stressed vines produce fewer grapes, but the grapes that are produced are prized for their unique flavor.

If you’re like us, and you love a good pour-over coffee, you’re going to want to try this coffee ASAP. There’s just so much happening in the cup: yellow plum, apricot, champagne, cashew, pineapple and cane sugar flavors. And, on top of that, the acidity is well-structured and kind of tropical.

Sipping this ultra high-end coffee is truly delightful because the flavors just keep unfolding. It really is one of the most interesting beans we carry.

The Bufcoffee Cupping Score

Cupping is a system used to taste, evaluate and grade coffee, similar to, but not completely the same as a wine rating system. Aroma, flavor, body, acidity, and balance are all graded to give a coffee its cupping score.

Scores of 80 points are incredibly difficult to achieve. Coffees rated over 80 are considered specialty coffees, i.e.: the best of the best, and any coffee that approaches or surpasses 90 points is considered out-of-this-world good.

The Bufcoffee cupping score is an incredible 86.5. In other words, this is a coffee you’re going to want to tell all of your coffee-loving friends about.