Honduras Caballero - Natural Extended Fermentation

Expect notes of tropical fruits like mango and papaya, dried apricots, nutty almonds for a layered yet balanced cup with a smooth finish.

Marysabel Caballero and her husband, Moises Herrera, are 2nd and 3rd generation coffee farmers. They have been awarded for their commitment to developing quality coffee in Honduras several times. We have known the family since mid 2000, while Nordic Approach started buying coffee from them in 2012.

Marysabel´s father, Don Fabio Caballero, inherited large areas of land in and around Marcala from his father, who was one of the pioneers of coffee cultivation in Honduras. Marcala is located in the South East of Honduras.

After many years of poor profits, he decided to pass his land down to his children; to his daughter Marysabel and her husband, especially. Moises brought his own farms into the family business as well, and together, they own almost 200 hectares of cultivated land, separated into 17 different farms.

All of their farms are within close proximity to their ‘beneficio’ (wet mill), Xinacla. It is a central mill to which they deliver cherries and process coffee. They usually keep each farm's production separate, except for when the volume is too small from the day's pickings. In such cases, they combine pickings from different farms. We call these blends "Caballero", without an additional name on our offer list. The quality can easily compete with the coffees from a single block or farm, but it is blended to create slightly bigger lots.

Their farms have a clay-like soil, and their main cultivar is Catuai. They also cultivate other varieties like Java, Pacamara, and Geishas. The areas the farms are located in generally have wet and windy conditions. Some farms have shade, while others do not. There is a mix of flat plateaus and hillsides, with moderate to steep inclines.

Everything they do at their farms is documented. They invest a lot of time and resources for new equipment and planting new varieties, ultimately improving the quality of their coffee.

Marysabel and Moises have always focused on quality, which awarded them 3rd place at the annual SCAA “Coffee Of The Year” competition in 2010. They have also done well in the Cup of Excellence for several years, as one of the few producers from their area.

Honduras is a small yet mighty coffee producer. The country boasts the largest per capita coffee production in the world. Beginning in 2017, Honduras began placing in third place for Arabica production volume globally. For this slot, they compete with Ethiopia—a country 10 times larger than Honduras.  The two countries trade between third and fourth place annually, but the achievement is impressive, nonetheless.

Honduras has everything it needs to become a premier specialty coffee producer. The country has the right growing conditions, abundant fertile soils and soaring altitudes (nearly all farms are at more than 1,000 meters above sea level), plus a variety of microclimates. Beginning in the early 2000s the industry began to focus on quality. Improved infrastructure (better mechanical dryers, centralized wet mills, an increasing number of solar dryers), quality control/assurance trainings (separating lots by qualities, cupping schools, etc.), the rise of specialty-focused exporters, increased volumes of certified coffees and the strengthening cooperative movement all have worked in tandem to make Honduran coffee ‘one to watch’.

Above all, while Honduras increasingly offers high end microlots, what the country arguably represents overall is exceptional value. Quality has improved massively over the last 15 years, and in addition to unique specialty lots, the country offers very solid, clean blenders at very attractive prices.