What is Barrel Fermented Coffee from Honduras? How to Drink Barrel Coffee from Honduras

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Honduras: The Rising Star of Coffee

If one coffee bean captured everyone's attention in 2019, it would undoubtedly be the barrel-fermented beans from Honduras's Mocca Estate.

Honduras is a mountainous country in Central America, lying between the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea and bordering Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua. With a tropical climate and an average annual temperature of 23 degrees Celsius, and with abundant rainfall throughout the year, it offers an ideal environment for coffee cultivation. Within its borders lie 280,000 hectares of coffee plantations, made up mostly of small estates. Honduras has made significant improvements in processing technique and transportation capacity, and its coffee market has developed remarkably over the past 20 years. More and more people are paying attention to Honduran coffee, and it has earned recognition from the major coffee-consuming nations.

Honduran Barrel-Processed Coffee Beans

Brandy Oak Barrel Fermentation

These beans undergo brandy oak barrel fermentation. The method starts with carefully washed fresh coffee cherries, which are then placed in brandy oak barrels for low-temperature fermentation for 30 to 40 days at approximately 15 to 20 degrees Celsius, followed by shade drying.

The moment you open the package you are greeted by an explosive aroma of wine, and that fragrance becomes even richer and longer-lasting after grinding. The beans are lightly roasted and keep a uniform, complete appearance. Because of the meticulous washing at the start, they are exceptionally clean, with very little silver skin.

Whiskey Sherry Barrel Fermentation

FrontStreet Coffee also offers a barrel-processed coffee of this kind. The method for this particular bean is quite special. After harvesting, the cherries first undergo careful washing. The washed cherries are then placed in sherry barrels that have previously matured whiskey, where they ferment at a low temperature of approximately 15 to 20 degrees Celsius for 30 to 40 days. After that they are shade-dried. That is why the method is called meticulous washed whiskey sherry barrel fermentation.

Brewing Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee suggests the following parameters for Honduras whiskey barrel process coffee:

Water temperature 90 degrees Celsius, coffee-to-water ratio 1:15, medium-fine grind (BG 5R, 58 percent pass-through rate on the China standard #20 sieve). Use about twice the coffee weight in water, 33 g, to wet the coffee bed for the bloom. End the bloom when the coffee bed shifts from moist to dry, after about 30 seconds. Using a small stream, pour in segments to 121 g. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, keep pouring until 225 g is reached. Remove the filter cone when the water level drops and is about to expose the bed. Timing begins at the start of the bloom, and total extraction time is 1'40".

Flavor Profile

The coffee has a viscous mouthfeel with a berry-like acidity, notes of vanilla and dark chocolate, a wine-like aftertaste and a sucrose sweetness. Overall it shows distinct layers and complexity.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Barrel fermentation is built on washed coffee, and if the clean, precise foundation underneath the wine aromas is what interests you, FrontStreet Coffee's washed lineup is worth exploring. Our Gotiti Cooperative Yirgacheffe comes from the Worka production area at the southeastern end of Yirgacheffe, once part of the Woka Cooperative. Because the fruit is removed before drying, the bean's own aroma comes through more clearly: jasmine fragrance with bright citrus and lemon acidity, roasted medium-light for green tea and honey notes. It works as a pour-over, a cold brew or an espresso.

For a washed coffee with more volume, FrontStreet Coffee's Kenya Little Tomato is one of the best-known examples of the style. Kenya is famous for double washing, repeating the wash cycle so that juice and clarity are pushed as far as they will go, and the cup brings cherry tomato, smoked plum, snow pear and black plum, sweet and sour, juicy and full. It comes from Thika, is grown with the SL28 and SL34 varieties and is roasted light to preserve the lively acidity.

And for the original washed island bean, there is FrontStreet Coffee's Jamaica Blue Mountain No.1. Jamaica is an island climate that gets less sunshine than most origins, which is exactly why washing was adopted there: it shortens drying time and lowers the defect rate. The method keeps the aroma intense and yields a pure, balanced cup of hazelnut, cream, chocolate and caramel.