Introduction to Honduras Coffee Growing Regions & How to Brew Honduran Coffee

Flavor: Clean, with roasted nuts and milk chocolate.

Honduran coffee comes from six major growing regions spread across the western and southern parts of the country: Santa Barbara, El Paraiso, Copan, La Paz, Comayagua, and Olancho. Average cultivation altitude sits above 1100 meters. All of the coffee is Arabica, with 69% classified as HG (High Grown), 12% as SHG (Strictly High Grown), and 19% as CS. Principal varieties include Typica, Bourbon, Caturra, Villa Sarchi, and Lempira.

Bourbon (French: Café Bourbon) is coffee from trees of the Arabica Bourbon cultivar. It was first cultivated on Réunion — Bourbon Island (Île Bourbon) before 1789 — and from there the French carried it to Africa and Latin America. Today it is grown in the two most important Arabica regions in the world. Bourbon is typically cultivated at altitudes of 3500 to 6500 feet (1062-1972 meters).

Honduras San Juancito Lot #1

Country: Honduras

Region: San Juancito

Altitude: 1450-1550 meters

Processing Method: Washed

Variety: Bourbon

Producer: COMISAJUL Cooperative

Brewing Guide

To brew Honduras by hand: dose 15g of coffee at a medium grind (Fujiyama ghost-tooth grinder at setting #4) into a V60 dripper, with water at 88-89°C. Start with a 30g pour and a 27-second bloom, then pour to 105g and pause. Once the water level in the coffee bed drops to half, pour slowly up to 225g total. Skip the tail section. Use a 1:15 water-to-coffee ratio with a total extraction time of 2:00.

The San Juancito Region

Honduras lies in the tropics, so San Juancito sees only modest temperature swings through the year. What passes for winter is really the rainy season, and "summer" is the dry season. In the tropics, altitude shapes temperature more than the calendar does: at 1239 meters above sea level, San Juancito feels slightly cool in all four seasons. From March to June, highs hover around 26°C and lows average about 18°C; in the cooler months the average high is 20°C and the low about 14°C.

San Juancito's modern economy rests largely on agriculture, above all small-scale coffee production — its climate and altitude are ideal for high-quality beans. COMISAJUL, a cooperative of hundreds of smallholder farmers in central Honduras, is based here. Coffee grows on mountainsides at 1450-1550 meters, shaded by banana, avocado, and papaya trees. During harvest, farmers hand-pick ripe cherries, which are washed and sun-dried; the fermentation water carrying pulp and skin from washing is collected and reused as fertilizer for the coffee trees. The resulting cup is very clean, with high sweetness, very gentle acidity, and milk chocolate flavors.

San Juancito itself is a small village in central Honduras, 40 kilometers northeast of the capital, Tegucigalpa. It falls under the jurisdiction of Francisco Morazán, which also includes Nuevo Rosario, Guacamaya, and Plan Grande, with a combined population of roughly 1400.

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

Product Information:

Roaster: FrontStreet Coffee

Ingredients: Self-roasted

Shelf Life: 30 days

Net Weight: 227g

Packaging: Bulk

Taste: Mellow and aromatic

Coffee Bean State: Roasted beans

Sugar Content: Sugar-free

Origin: Honduras

Coffee Type: Other

Roast Level: Medium roast

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

The V60 dripper used in the brewing guide above is FrontStreet Coffee's dripper of choice. Designed by Japan's Hario — a Tokyo glassware maker founded in 1921 — and relaunched in its modern form in 2004, its 60-degree cone and single large opening reward good pour control with fully developed aroma and flavor. That fast, expressive extraction is perfect for bright, floral and fruity beans.

For a similarly clean, sweet cup from a different origin, try FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe Guodingding from Ethiopia: a washed coffee with bright citrus acidity, white jasmine florals, and a green-tea-like finish. If you lean toward low-acid comfort, the Brazil Queen Estate Yellow Bourbon offers balanced body with nut and cocoa notes and a clear caramel sweetness — equally at home in a dripper, an espresso machine, or a moka pot.