The Story of Los Catadores Cupping Estate in Marcala, Honduras

Honduras "LOS CATADORES" Honey

Country: Honduras

Region: Marcala

Estate: "LOS CATADORES" Cupper's Estate

Processing Method: Honey Process

Altitude: 1650-1690m

Variety: Catuai

Aroma: 9

Body: 8

Flavor: 9

Aftertaste: 8

With Milk: 9

Cupping Notes:

Blind assessment, evaluated as espresso: deep dark chocolate, magnolia, grapefruit zest, date, and cedar in the aroma and small cup. The mouthfeel is lean but very smooth, with a chocolate-toned finish touched with cedar.

Dark chocolate, magnolia, grapefruit zest, and cedar lead the aroma. Smooth in the mouth, with a chocolate-toned finish carrying cedar notes.

In three parts milk the chocolate deepens, with magnolia and grapefruit zest holding it steady.

With milk added, chocolate becomes the main tone, finishing on magnolia and grapefruit zest.

The bottom line: a solid Central American cup, especially good as an espresso shot, with pretty floral and citrus-zest notes and chocolate running throughout.

An espresso in the Central and South American style, with attractive floral and citrus notes wrapped in chocolate.

Honduras covers roughly 3.1 times the land area of Taiwan. Coffee there is grown mainly on small farms, which together supply about three million bags of beans a year. As in many countries across Central America, South America, and Africa, the coffee trade sustains hundreds of thousands of families. The coffee is arabica, grown at an average altitude of 3,600 feet. Of total production, about 69% is HG grade, 12% is SHG (the highest grade, grown above 4,000 feet — the grade of the coffee described here), and 19% is CS.

Unlike its neighbors, which have well-developed concepts of coffee processing, Honduras lacks strong processing methods, suffers poor transport links and thin funding, and has no clearly distinguished reputation in the market. That means even a genuinely high-quality Honduran lot may fail to earn a good price for reasons that have nothing to do with the coffee. When good products do not fetch good prices — or even fair compensation — farmers lose the motivation to work carefully, and processors and exporters are unwilling to invest in better equipment. So much of Honduras's finest coffee ends up blended into other coffees, contributing a mild, sweet taste, instead of being sold as a single-origin regional bean.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommended Espresso Brewing Parameters:

Using FrontStreet Coffee's Faema machine as the example: for a double shot, use 20–21 g of grounds at a 1:2 coffee-to-water ratio, with an extraction time of 25–30 seconds.

For a single shot, use 13–14 g of grounds at a 1:1.5 coffee-to-water ratio, with an extraction time of 25–30 seconds.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If Los Catadores appeals to you as a chocolate-forward espresso — and especially if you drink it with milk — FrontStreet Coffee's espresso lineup is built for exactly that. The Classic Blend is the flagship: designed for espresso and moka pot alike, it produces exceptionally rich crema, so even a beginner on a home machine can pull a dense, creamy shot. Its traditional Mamba-style recipe gives a full, rounded cup that suits newcomers and veterans, home and café alike.

For chocolate-toned drinks, the Black Cocoa Blend is the value pick. Made from 100% arabica, it balances generous crema with a full body and a friendly price, making it a natural choice for anyone opening a café. The Commercial Blend, which held the shop-bean role before Black Cocoa arrived, costs less than FrontStreet Coffee's Premium Blend while still being tuned for taste, so it keeps costs down without giving up character. The Premium Blend is the longest-serving shop bean of all, used for close to a decade to make Americanos and lattes, pairing Brazil Cerrado with Colombia Huila for the classic espresso taste people already know and love.

The Classic Blend and Commercial Blend both add a small amount of robusta to the old-school Italian formula, which yields butter, nut, spice, dark chocolate, and toast aromas in the cup — a bold, thick body with a burst of golden crema that makes latte art easy. If you prefer nut-forward espresso, the Premium Blend and Black Cocoa Blend both contain a large proportion of Brazilian coffee, giving a comfortable bittersweet balance and creamy peanut flavor with a very smooth entry: FrontStreet Coffee's Premium Blend brings Colombia's nut, chocolate, and caramel notes with a gentle acidity, while FrontStreet Coffee's Black Cocoa Blend folds in the ripe-plum acidity of Yunnan arabica for a creamy chocolate aroma and a balanced, highly adaptable cup that works as a latte, an Americano, or a base for specialty drinks.