Flavor Characteristics of Honduras El Naranjo Estate_Honduran Coffee Brewing Methods and Techniques

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Coffee comes in various flavors. FrontStreet Coffee believes that friends who still hold stereotypical views about coffee should give it a try. Coffee isn't just about bitterness—that's only low-quality coffee. Quality coffee possesses gentle fruit acidity, sweet flavors, and a full-bodied texture—qualities that inferior coffee completely lacks!

Honduras El Naranjo

Honduras is located in central Central America, bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, the Pacific Ocean to the south, Guatemala to the west, El Salvador to the southwest, and Nicaragua to the southeast. It covers an area of 112,492 square kilometers with a coastline of approximately 1,033 kilometers. Except for the coastal plains, the entire territory consists of mountains, with the highest elevation in the northwest reaching 3,000 meters and the south also exceeding 2,400 meters. The main rivers in the country include the Coco River, Patuca River, and Ulua River. Rivers originating from the inland mountains crisscross the land, flowing into both oceans. Between the mountain ranges, many basins and valleys have formed, with larger basins including Sula and Repaguanla, and main valleys including Comayagua and Humastlan.

The country can be divided into four natural geographical regions: the eastern lowlands, the northern coastal alluvial plain, the central highlands, and the Pacific coastal lowlands. Coastal islands are scattered throughout, with main islands including the Bay Islands and the Tigre Islands in Fonseca Bay. Honduras has complex terrain and diverse climates. The Central American coastal plains have a tropical rainforest climate with an average annual temperature of 31°C. The mountainous regions have a subtropical forest climate with an average annual temperature of 23°C, with the rainy season from June to November.

Coffee Production in Honduras

For coffee production, Honduras's geographical conditions are no less favorable than its neighboring coffee-producing countries like Guatemala and Nicaragua. Honduras has 280,000 hectares of coffee plantations, predominantly small-scale farms with most being less than 3.5 hectares. These coffee plantations account for sixty percent of Honduras's total coffee production. In the coffee plantations, because the growing areas are in mountainous regions, people pick coffee beans by hand and then carefully process them to produce higher quality coffee beans. Honduras harvests three million bags of coffee annually, providing abundant and high-quality coffee to the world, and has now become one of the top ten coffee-exporting countries.

Catuai is very popular among farmers due to its high yield. Similar to Caturra, it has short plants suitable for intensive cultivation and has good resistance to natural disasters, particularly wind and rain. It inherits the advantage of Caturra's short stature while addressing Mundo Novo's shortcomings. Another advantage is its firm fruit attachment, making it less likely to fall off in strong winds, compensating for the fragile nature of Arabica coffee cherries. After its official release in the 1970s, it was promoted to Central American countries and widely cultivated in Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, as well as its country of origin, Brazil. Considering flavor alone, under the right terroir conditions and processing methods, Catuai can produce quite wonderful flavors.

Washed Processing Method

These beans use the washed processing method.

After hand-picking the coffee beans, they are poured into water tanks to remove floating beans, then depulped and placed in fermentation tanks for 16-36 hours to remove mucilage. After fermentation is complete, they are thoroughly cleaned and then dried in the sun. This processing method results in coffee with a clean taste, bright and lively fruit acidity, as well as clear fruit flavors and floral notes.

Example: FrontStreet Coffee Honduras El Naranjo Coffee

Roasting Recommendations

The roasting machine is a Yangjia Pegasus 800N from Taiwan, with a 300-gram batch size. Using a medium roast approach.

Bean entry temperature: 200°C

Yellowing point: 5'15", 154°C

First crack: 9'11", 186.5°C

Development after first crack: 2'00", discharged at 192.4°C

Coffee Information

Honduras El Naranjo

Country: Honduras

Region: Marcala

Altitude: 1,425 meters

Variety: Catuai

Processing Method: Washed

Flavor: This washed coffee features dry aromas of spices and roasted peanuts, giving it elegant acidity with soft citrus notes. Flavors of orange, cantaloupe, cream, nuts, and dark chocolate, with a sweet Sunkist orange finish.

FrontStreet Coffee's Recommended Brewing Method

Recommended brewing method: Pour-over

Filter: V60

Grind size: 3.5 (Japan Fuji R440)

Water temperature: 89±1°C

30g water for bloom, bloom time 30s

Pouring stages: Pour to 120g, pause, then slowly pour to 225g

That is, 30-120-225g

When all the coffee grounds layered in the filter can be evenly soaked with hot water (not just repeatedly extracting a small portion of coffee grounds, avoiding the situation where coffee grounds become sour and bitter due to over-extraction), achieving a full, balanced, fragrant, sweet, and rich taste state. The water column should have a penetrating shape that is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom—that is, the width of water coming from the spout should be wide, while the ending shape should present a sharp point.

Flavor Description

This coffee features dry aromas of spices and roasted peanuts, with noticeable acidity and soft berry fruit notes. Flavors of orange, cantaloupe, cream, nuts, and dark chocolate, with a genmaicha tea-like finish.

Other Drip Extraction Recommendations:

French press: recommended grind size 3.5-4 / water temperature 86-88°C

AeroPress: recommended grind size 2.5 / water temperature 86-88°C

The dry aroma has some notes of spices, roasted peanuts, and chocolate, while the wet aroma carries hints of herbal plants. Upon tasting, you can clearly feel the flavors of orange peel, nuts, and cream, somewhat like a cup of lemon tea.

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473