The first coffees of the year have come out of the solar
dryers at the beneficio, and we couldn’t be more excited about the results! We
recently cupped coffees from Pastor Bernardo Ponce and Antonio (Toñito) Ponce
Bautista. Pastor Bernardo’s coffee scored an 85.5, with honey sweetness and a
lemon acidity.
Toñito’s coffee score an 88.5. Regional IHCAFE cupping
director Ramon Reyes cupped Toñito’s coffee and, without knowing the producer
or that it was processed at UMF’s new beneficio, said “I need to send this
coffee to San Pedro Sula to put it in front of the national Cup Of Excellence
panel of judges. This coffee has a profile that I haven’t ever seen before in
this region.” The profile of Toñito’s coffee included strawberries, bitter
chocolate, lavender and cardamom. Mr. Reyes also requested another sample to
enter into a Honduran coffee competition. If it does well enough in this
competition, his coffee will get an automatic entry into the Specialty Coffee
Association of America’s Coffee of the Year competition. Last year two of the
top 10 coffees in the world came out of Honduras, one of them from the same
region as La Unión.
Other top scoring coffees thus far have been Rigoberto Paz,
producing a coffee with a sweet tangerine flavor and honey sweetness; Sara
Juarez, producing a coffee that tastes of an orange creamsicle with subtle
notes of coffee blossom and milk chocolate; and Pablo Paz, producing a coffee
that has notes of black tea, coffee berry, and dry wine.
We will be working diligently this week to cup coffees
produced by Filadelfo Juarez, Francis Castillo, and a second lot by Pablo Paz.
These three farmers produced some of the best coffees that came out of La Unión
last year. Additionally, we will be cupping coffees from over a dozen farmers
who are hoping to export their coffee for the first time ever, including Noe
Amaya and other farmers enrolled in UMF’s microloan program.
