Honduras Coffee Flavor Characteristics How to Brew Honduras Lychee Lan Coffee to Achieve Its Lychee Flavor

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FrontStreet Coffee - Honduras Lychee Orchid

The currently popular "Lychee Orchid" is fermented in brandy barrels, which gives the beans a distinct lychee aroma and adds a layer of fermented wine flavor to the taste. Leaning toward floral and fruity notes, this coffee stands out as an "exception," widening what coffee can be. Personally, I had never tasted anything quite so refreshingly different.

The full name of this coffee is Honduras · Marcala · Mocha Estate · brandy-barrel low-temperature fermentation · Lychee Orchid, and it comes from Mocha Estate in the Marcala region of Honduras. Those words describe it perfectly.

Green coffee generally carries a heavy, somewhat astringent grassy aroma, and few varieties naturally show the flavors of a fully ripe bean. In these small, pale-looking beans, the astringency is almost entirely masked by the distinct alcoholic fermentation and lychee flavors, so much so that it is barely noticeable. Even the sealed bags holding the green beans take on a unique lychee aroma.

After harvest, the cherries first undergo washed processing to remove pulp and skin, then are placed in brandy barrels for 30-40 days of fermentation, during which the temperature must be held between 15-20°C. Only after that, followed by shade drying, does this completely different flavor profile emerge.

Honduras Mocha Estate Lychee Orchid

Country: Honduras

Region: Marcala

Estate: Mocha Estate

Altitude: 1500-1700m

Varieties: Caturra, Catuai

Processing: Fine washed + brandy-barrel fermentation

Pour-over parameters: V60 dripper, water temperature 91°C, grind size BG-6S, method: 30g bloom for 30s, second pour to 125g, third pour to 225g, extraction time 2 minutes

In Brief

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FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

This barrel-fermented Honduras is a departure from the clean, transparent style that defines washed coffee, and it is worth tasting against a textbook washed lot. FrontStreet's Guting Guting Cooperative, from Ethiopia's Yirgacheffe, is a good foil: its traditional washed process draws out jasmine florals, bright citrus and lemon acidity, and a green-tea-and-honey bearing with no bitterness. Because the coffee comes from a smallholder village in the Worka region rather than a large estate, it has the precision and cleanliness that washed processing is known for.

For another benchmark of the washed method, FrontStreet's Kenya Scarlet uses a 72-hour double wash to layer in cherry tomato, smoked plum, snow pear and black plum over a bright, juice-like acidity. And FrontStreet's Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1, from the historic Clifton Mount Estate at roughly 4,300 feet (1,310.64 meters), shows what careful washing does for balance — hazelnut, cream, chocolate and caramel, even and precise, with none of the flavors shouting over the others.