Honduras Coffee Bean Characteristics & Brewing Methods

Producer: COMISAJUL Cooperative

San Juancito is a small village in central Honduras, 40 kilometers northeast of the capital, Tegucigalpa. The town belongs to the Francisco Morazán district, which also includes Nuevo Rosario, Guacamaya and Plan Grande, with a total population of approximately 1,400.

Although San Juancito was historically known for its mineral deposits, today it stands out for sitting within the buffer zone of La Tigra National Park—a rainforest ecosystem and Honduras' first national park. The park acts as a vast watershed, supplying drinking water to the capital's 500,000 residents.

Flavor Profile

Clean, roasted nuts, milk chocolate

Honduras Coffee Regions

Honduras divides its coffee-producing areas into six major regions across the western and southern parts of the country: Santa Barbara, El Paraiso, Copan, La Paz, Comayagua and Olancho. The average cultivation 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. The main varieties include Typica, Bourbon, Caturra, Villa Sarchi and Lempira.

Bourbon Coffee

Bourbon coffee (French: Café Bourbon) is produced from Arabica trees of the Bourbon cultivar. It was first cultivated on Réunion, known as Île Bourbon before 1789, and was later carried by the French to connect with the African continent and Latin America; it is now one of the two most widely planted Arabica lines in the world. Bourbon is typically grown at altitudes between 3,500 and 6,500 feet (1,062-1,972 meters).

Brewing Method

Hand-pour Honduras: 15g of coffee, medium grind (Fuji ghost-tooth grinder setting #4), V60 dripper, water temperature 88-89°C. First pour 30g of water and bloom for 27 seconds. Pour to 105g and stop, wait until the water level drops to half, then continue pouring slowly until reaching 225g. Avoid the tail section. Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, extraction time 2:00.

Product Information

Brand: FrontStreet Coffee
Ingredients: In-house roasted coffee beans
Shelf life: 30 days
Net weight: 227g
Packaging: Bulk
Taste: Aromatic coffee beans
Roast level: Roasted coffee beans
Sugar content: Sugar-free
Origin: Honduras
Coffee type: Other
Roast degree: Medium roast

Coffee Details

Honduras San Juancito Lot#1

Country: Honduras
Region: San Juancito
Altitude: 1,450-1,550 meters
Processing method: Washed

Climate and Growing Conditions

Because Honduras lies in the tropics, San Juancito sees little temperature variation through the year. What locals call winter is in fact the rainy season, and what they call summer is the dry season. In tropical regions, altitude affects temperature more than the timing of rainfall. Sitting above 1,239 meters, San Juancito feels slightly cool year-round. In summer (March-June) the high is often around 26°C while the low averages about 18°C; in winter the average high is 20°C and the low about 14°C.

Local Economy and Coffee Production

San Juancito's modern economy depends largely on agriculture, most of it small-scale coffee production, and its climate and altitude are highly favorable for quality beans. COMISAJUL, a cooperative of hundreds of small coffee farmers in central Honduras, is based in San Juancito. Its members grow coffee on mountains at 1,450-1,550 meters, shaded by banana, avocado and papaya trees. During harvest, farmers hand-pick ripe cherries, which are then washed and sun-dried. The fermented water carrying skins and pulp from the washing process is collected and used as fertilizer for the coffee trees. This lot has a very clean taste, high sweetness, very soft acidity and milk chocolate notes.

Variety: Bourbon

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

The V60 is the cone FrontStreet Coffee reaches for most often, and its fast flow suits exactly this kind of clean, sweet washed coffee. FrontStreet Honduras San Juancito is the direct match: grown by the COMISAJUL cooperative at 1,450-1,550 meters under banana, avocado and papaya shade, washed and sun-dried, it drinks clean and sweet with soft acidity and milk chocolate. Brew it at 15g, medium grind, water at 88-89°C and a 1:15 ratio.

If you prefer a brighter, more aromatic cup with the same clean structure, FrontStreet Yirgacheffe Guodingding brings pronounced citrus, berry and floral notes with a green-tea-like finish, and a soft, bright acidity that tastes of fruit rather than sharp sourness. FrontStreet Ethiopia Hua Kui goes further into tropical fruit, with intense strawberry, passion fruit, jackfruit and lychee aromatics, obvious sweetness and almost no bitterness—many drinkers call it the coffee that does not taste like coffee. It suits anyone who dislikes the traditional bitter edge of coffee.

For a more classic, layered profile, FrontStreet Panama Emerald Estate Red Label Geisha shows elegant jasmine florals with citrus, bergamot and black tea, a transparent body and a long finish. FrontStreet Kenya Cherry Tomato, a washed Kenyan coffee from the Sika region grown at 1,550-1,750 meters from SL28 and SL34, brings clear cherry tomato and smoked plum acidity with pear and black plum mid-palate and a clean finish of yellow sugar and green tea. Whatever you choose, brew it on a V60 with a three-stage pour: 30ml to bloom for 30 seconds, then 100ml, then 95ml, finishing around 2 minutes.