FINCA LA CONCEPCION, HONDURAS

Honduras has made great strides in their coffee production in the past decade. Not only have volumes gone up (3.26 million bags in 2009/2010 to 6.1 million bags in 2016/2017), but they have refined processing and resources to produce some of the world’s favourite coffees.

After Hurricane Mitch devastated the country’s agriculture in 1998 they have seen steady growth in quality and volume becoming the 6th largest producer of coffee in the world in 2016 and a favourite place for microlots. Honduras is an exciting origin, a place for exotic microlots, interesting varietals and a passionate, young generation of coffee producers.

We were introduced to Manuel Melgar’s coffee through a good friend and old intern of ours, Suita Diaz. Suita is working with the COMSA Coop in Honduras, which provides resources and training for members, and came to us very excited about this special lot.  

Manuel has a passion for producing coffee that makes him describe farming as “more of a game or a sport”. The experimentation, iterative improvements and thrill of a successful lot lead him and his wife Linda, to continue to reinvest in his farm and production. They are separating lots from around their farm, experimenting with natural processing, honey processing and various fermentation times.

Manuel recommends an “intermediate” roast for this coffee – not too dark and not too light – which brings out the fruitiness in the coffee. We suggest trying it with his favourite brew method as well: the Hario v60.