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Honduran Coffee Grading and Flavor Profile What Are the High-Quality Estate Coffee Beans from Honduras?

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/27, High-quality coffee from Honduras is processed using the washed method, typically starting with soaking, during which defective fruits float to the surface and can be skimmed off and discarded. The good fruits are then placed in a pulping machine, where rotational force removes the fruit skin. The pulped fruits, after passing through the machine's

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Among Honduran coffee beans, the most familiar to everyone is undoubtedly the Sherry. The Sherry coffee beans are also FrontStreet Coffee's best-selling variety. Thanks to its rich wine flavor from barrel processing and excellent cost-performance ratio, it has made consumers deeply interested in Honduran coffee.

Honduras is also one of many Central American countries, but its coffee flavor performance is not outstanding. Honduran coffee beans have always been positioned as "medium-quality blended coffee." Honduras's neighboring countries, like El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua, all hold Cup of Excellence (COE) competitions, and the finalist beans all have excellent flavors. FrontStreet Coffee believes that national boundaries are artificially defined, and the flavor characteristics of coffee growing regions do not change due to different countries. Since coffee from Honduras's neighboring countries all shows excellent flavor performance, Honduran coffee beans are simply yet to be discovered.

In 2004, Honduras also held its first national COE competition, and coffee buyers from around the world paid attention to this competition to witness what outstanding qualities Honduran coffee possessed. The champion estate from that year, El Pezote, also proved that Honduras indeed has high-quality coffee beans.

In the 2021 Honduran COE competition, the Geisha coffee beans from Finca Santa Lucia in the Comayagua region won the championship with a score of 90.67.

Honduran Coffee Growing Regions

Honduras has 6 main coffee growing regions: Copán, El Paraíso, Comayagua, Opalaca, Montecillos, and Agalta.

In addition to these 6 main coffee growing regions, there are some smaller growing areas. Next, FrontStreet Coffee will introduce the Sweet Orange Estate from the La Paz region in southwestern Honduras and the Mocha Estate from the Marcala region. FrontStreet Coffee chose to carry the Sweet Orange Estate's coffee beans because of its excellent geographical location, which retains the main regional flavor characteristics of Honduras while also highlighting the estate's unique orange aroma.

Honduras Sweet Orange Estate

Region: Marcala
Altitude: 1425 meters
Variety: Catuai
Processing: Washed
Flavor: Citrus, melon, floral, sugarcane, orange peel, nuts, tea-like sensation

Marcala belongs to the La Paz region, and its coffee production can be compared to another Honduran region, Santa Bárbara. The Marcala region is famous for coffee production and is the first city to earn the "Coffee Protection Origin" designation. With an average annual temperature of 27°C, humid air, coffee-growing areas at altitudes of 1200-1600 meters, and mineral-rich soil, it is extremely suitable for coffee cultivation.

The Sweet Orange Estate (El Naranjo) is located in Marcala. The estate was named after its shade trees - tall wild orange trees. Thanks to these wild orange trees, the coffee beans also carry a subtle orange flavor. The washed processing method effectively expresses the coffee's regional characteristics.

FrontStreet Coffee's cupping notes for this coffee bean reveal light floral aromas and sunflower seed fragrance. When sipped, it presents orange peel, sugarcane, nuts, and tea-like sensations.

The other two Honduran coffee beans from FrontStreet Coffee are the Sherry and Lychee Lan from Mocha Estate.

Honduras Mocha Estate Sherry

Region: Marcala
Estate: Mocha Estate
Altitude: 1500-1700 meters
Variety: Caturra, Catuai, Pacas
Processing: Fine washed whiskey sherry barrel fermentation
Flavor: Wine aroma, vanilla cream, dark cocoa, nuts, liquor-filled chocolate

Honduras Mocha Estate Lychee Lan

Region: Marcala
Estate: Mocha Estate
Altitude: 1500-1700 meters
Variety: Caturra, Catuai
Processing: Fine washed + brandy barrel fermentation
Flavor: Fermentation notes, wine aroma, light cream, nuts, chocolate

Actually, Mocha Estate is not a large estate, and its reputation is not as prominent as Cup of Excellence award-winning estates. However, when it began using barrel processing for coffee beans 4 years ago, it attracted the attention of Chinese coffee hunters. After some communication, Sherry and Lychee Lan were brought to China and became extremely popular.

Fine Washed + Barrel Fermentation Processing

The barrel fermentation method borrows from winemaking techniques. Its greatest impact on wine is that moderate oxidation through the barrel stabilizes the wine's structure and infuses barrel flavors into the wine. It plays a similar role in coffee fermentation.

Wine barrels allow tiny amounts of air to pass through the barrel walls, permeating into the barrel to cause moderate oxidation of the coffee beans. The appropriate amount of oxygen entering also accelerates coffee fermentation, smooths tannins, and gradually transforms fresh fruit aromas into rich and complex mature wine flavors. The moderate hardness of wine barrels ensures good waterproofing and storage safety. Additionally, barrels contain a certain amount of tannins. During the storage process of green coffee beans, the barrel's tannins also permeate into the beans inside, giving the coffee layered characteristics and rich wine aroma.

The fine washed whiskey sherry barrel fermentation processing method involves first performing fine washing on freshly harvested coffee cherries, then placing them in whiskey oak barrels that have matured sherry wine for low-temperature fermentation for 30-40 days (temperature approximately 15-20°C), followed by shade drying.

Fine Washed + Brandy Barrel Fermentation

This Lychee Lan, processed with fine washed brandy barrel fermentation, first undergoes fine washing of freshly harvested coffee cherries, then is placed in brandy oak barrels for low-temperature fermentation for 30-40 days (temperature approximately 15-20°C), allowing the green coffee beans to absorb the barrel's flavors, and finally undergoes shade drying.

Beans processed through brandy barrel fermentation have soft lychee and honey sweetness, while also blending rich brandy wine aroma and oak barrel fragrance.

Roasting Recommendations

The roasting machine is a Yangjia Pegasus 800N from Taiwan, with a 300-gram batch size. FrontStreet Coffee uses a light-to-medium roast approach, which preserves the bright fruit acidity while enhancing the classic rich chocolate and nutty notes characteristic of Honduran coffee.

Charge temperature: 200°C
Yellowing point: 5'15", 154°C
First crack: 9'11", 186.5°C
Development after first crack: 2 minutes, dropped at 192.4°C

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Recommendations

The brewing parameters used by FrontStreet Coffee are:

Dripper: Hario V60
Water temperature: 90°C
Dose: 15 grams
Ratio: 1:15
Grind size: Standard #20 sieve, 80% pass-through

FrontStreet Coffee uses segmented extraction. Start with 30g of water for a 30-second bloom. Using a small water flow, pour in a circle to 125g, then segment. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring to 225g and stop pouring. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, remove the dripper. (Timing starts from the beginning of the bloom) The total extraction time is 2'00".