Honduras San Juan Cidío 1 Washed Bourbon Coffee Beans: Flavor Profile, Growing Region, and Brewing Parameters

Processing Method: Washed

Honduras lies in the tropics, so San Juancito sees very little temperature variation across the year. What locals call winter is really the rainy season, and what they call summer is the dry season. In tropical regions, altitude shapes temperature more than the length of the rainy period does. Sitting above 1,239 meters, San Juancito stays pleasantly cool through all four seasons. During "summer" (March to June) the daytime high is usually around 26°C and the overnight low averages about 18°C. In "winter" the average high is 20°C while the low sits near 14°C.

The modern economy of San Juancito depends largely on agriculture, most of it small-scale coffee farming. Its climate and altitude are well suited to producing high-quality beans. COMISAJUL, a cooperative of hundreds of smallholder coffee farmers in central Honduras, is based in San Juancito. Its members grow coffee on mountains between 1,450 and 1,550 meters, shaded by banana, avocado, papaya and other fruit trees. Farmers hand-pick ripe cherries during harvest, process them with the washed method and then dry them in the sun. The wastewater from washing, which carries pulp and skin, is collected and used as fertilizer on the coffee trees. This lot drinks very clean, with high sweetness, very gentle acidity and a milk chocolate character.

Variety: Bourbon

Processor: COMISAJUL Cooperative

San Juancito is a small village in central Honduras, 40 kilometers northeast of the capital, Tegucigalpa. The town falls under the jurisdiction of Francisco Morazan Department, which also includes Nuevo Rosario, Guacamaya and Plan Grande, with a total population of roughly 1,400.

Although San Juancito was historically known for its mineral deposits, it is now recognized for sitting inside the buffer zone of La Tigra National Park - a rainforest ecosystem and Honduras' first national park. The park acts as a vast reservoir, supplying drinking water to 500,000 residents of the capital.

Flavor: Clean, Roasted Nuts, Milk Chocolate

Honduras divides its coffee-producing areas into six major regions spread across the west and south: Santa Barbara, El Paraiso, Copan, La Paz, Comayagua and Olancho. The average growing altitude is above 1,100 meters. The coffee is Arabica, with 69% classified as HG (High Grown), 12% as SHG (Strictly High Grown) and 19% as CS. Main varieties include Typica, Bourbon, Caturra, Villa Sarchi and Lempira.

Bourbon coffee (French: Cafe Bourbon) comes from trees of the Arabica Bourbon cultivar. It was first cultivated on Reunion, which was also called Ile Bourbon before 1789. France later used the island to link itself with both Africa and Latin America, and Bourbon is now one of the two most widely grown Arabica cultivars in the world. Bourbon is typically grown at altitudes of 3,500 to 6,500 feet (1,062-1,972 meters).

Pour-over Honduras

Use 15 g of coffee ground at a medium setting (Fuji ghost-tooth grinder, setting #4) in a V60 dripper, with water at 88-89°C. Start with a 30 g pour and a 27-second bloom, then pour to 105 g and stop. When the water level in the coffee bed drops halfway, continue pouring slowly until you reach 225 g, leaving the tail end behind. The water-to-coffee ratio is 1:15, with a 2:00 extraction.

Manufacturer: FrontStreet Coffee
Ingredients: Roasted in-house
Shelf life: 30 days
Net weight: 227 g
Packaging: Bulk
Taste: Rich and aromatic
Bean state: Roasted beans
Sugar content: Sugar-free
Origin: Honduras
Coffee type: Other
Roast level: Medium roast

Honduras San Juancito Lot #1

Country: Honduras

Region: San Juancito

Altitude: 1,450-1,550 meters

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

The clean, sweet profile of this washed Honduran has plenty in common with FrontStreet Yirgacheffe Gerdin Cooperative, a washed Ethiopian lot from Gerdin village. Because the washed process is used, it expresses jasmine florals and bright citrus acidity to the fullest, and a medium-light roast brings out green tea and honey notes. It is equally at home as a pour-over, a cold brew or an espresso.

If you want washed coffee at its most vivid, FrontStreet Kenya Little Tomato is one of the best-known examples, since Kenya excels at double washing. The extra wash and repeated soaking push the juice-like quality to the extreme, giving sun-dried tomato, smoked plum, pear, black plum and yellow sugar aromas with a sweet, juicy acidity.

And when balance is the goal, there is FrontStreet Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1. The washed process removes skin, pulp and mucilage before drying, which shortens drying time and yields bright beans with a low defect rate. In the cup it is pure hazelnut, cream, chocolate and caramel, with a balance in which no single note dominates or goes missing.