What Are the Flavor Characteristics of Honduran Coffee - Growing Caturra and Catuai Varieties

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Introduction

When mentioning Honduran coffee, most people's first reaction is either Lychee Lan or Sherry coffee beans. In this article, FrontStreet Coffee wants to discuss two other famous coffee estates from Honduras - the Sweet Orange Estate and Las Gemelas Estate - to see how these coffee beans perform.

Coffee Growing Regions

FrontStreet Coffee's Sweet Orange Estate coffee beans come from the Marcala region. Marcala is one of Honduras' most famous growing regions. Honduras has naturally suitable soil and water conditions, and the Sweet Orange Estate is home to a batch of high-quality coffee trees. The estate is typically named after its shade trees, so the Sweet Orange Estate's shade trees are tall wild orange trees. The wild orange aroma is very strong, and the coffee grown here has a rare richness of sweetness. The orange fruit trees also infuse the coffee with rich layers of floral and fruit notes. The estate now grows Catuai, Bourbon, and Geisha varieties. In addition to fruit trees and coffee trees, the estate also has windbreaks to protect the coffee and fertilizers made primarily from coffee cherry husks. In 2016, Sweet Orange Estate won 14th place in the Cup of Excellence competition, and the female owner Carmen Fabiola Fiallos Melendez finally realized her dream of becoming a specialty coffee farmer.

FrontStreet Coffee's Las Gemelas Estate coffee beans come from the Copán region. The Copán region is located between the Ocotepeque and Lempira areas, exhibiting strong chocolate flavors combined with honey and caramel sweetness as its characteristics, with relatively light fruit flavors. The growing altitude ranges from 1,000 to 1,500 meters, with the harvest season from November to March. Las Gemelas Estate was inherited by owner Neri Subiabue Ariana Aguilar from her father and family. To ensure coffee quality, they send their coffee to the ARUCO ENTERPRISE association for cupping and quality control every year. The estate's name, Las Gemelas (The Twins), was chosen by Neri to commemorate the birth of her twin daughters.

For a long time, the Neri family had been growing Yellow Catuai. In 2015, Neri adjusted her planting pattern, transplanting the original Yellow Catuai and planting a batch of Red Catuai instead. FrontStreet Coffee's Las Gemelas Estate coffee beans are the first batch of Red Catuai coffee beans harvested in 2019. When processing this batch of Red Catuai coffee beans, the owner broke from the family's traditional washed processing method and innovatively tried natural processing, using this method to participate in competitions. The two experimental batches submitted for competition were processed using different fermentation times before drying - one fermented for 72 hours before drying and the other for 90 hours - and participated in the 2019 COE competition, winning 28th place. FrontStreet Coffee participated in this auction and purchased this coffee bean.

Coffee Bean Varieties

FrontStreet Coffee noticed that both coffee beans use the Catuai variety. Catuai is a variety we often encounter, and many high-quality American coffees are actually Catuai. In 1949, the Instituto Agronômico de Campinas (IAC) in São Paulo, Brazil, developed Catuai by crossing the "Mundo Novo" variety with Yellow Caturra. After several generations of selection, it was officially released in 1972. Catuai is very popular with farmers due to its high yield. Similar to Caturra, the plant is short and suitable for intensive cultivation, with good resistance to natural disasters, particularly wind and rain. It inherited the advantage of Caturra's low plant height, overcoming the drawbacks of Mundo Novo; another advantage is that the fruit is firm and less likely to fall off in strong winds, making up for the delicate nature of Arabica fruits. After its official release in the 1970s, it was promoted to Central American countries and widely planted in Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, and its country of origin, Brazil. Considering flavor alone, under appropriate terroir conditions and processing methods, Catuai can have quite wonderful flavors.

Catuai was introduced to Honduras in 1979 and officially released commercially in 1989. It is widely popular with farmers and today accounts for more than half of all production in Honduras! Because Catuai plants are short, they can be densely planted, and the flavor is also quite good above 1300 meters altitude. The only drawback is that it is very susceptible to pests and diseases. Honduras's IHCAFE is working hard to develop hybrids of Catuai and Catimor to improve disease resistance. The Red Catuai used by Las Gemelas Estate is fully ripe Catuai coffee fruit. Because fully ripe coffee fruits are selected, the sugar content in the fruit is very rich. Through cupping the coffee beans from both estates, FrontStreet Coffee found that the coffee beans from Las Gemelas Estate have higher sweetness than those from Sweet Orange Estate.

Coffee Bean Processing Methods

The Sweet Orange Estate that FrontStreet Coffee acquired uses the washed processing method. The selected coffee cherries are put into a depulper to initially remove their skin and pulp; the coffee beans with remaining pulp and mucilage are placed in water to ferment for about 24 hours; after fermentation, the coffee beans with parchment are placed in flowing water channels to wash away their pulp and mucilage; after washing, the coffee beans are dried in the sun or with a dryer until the moisture content reduces to about 12%. Finally, the parchment is removed from the coffee beans. The washed processing method makes the acidity of this coffee bean richer and the overall coffee cleaner. The green beans appear blue-green with a fresh acidic aroma.

Meanwhile, Las Gemelas Estate uses the natural processing method. The natural processing method is the oldest and most primitive method for processing coffee beans. It involves placing harvested coffee cherries on patios, and sometimes even drying them directly on roadsides, exposing them directly to sunlight (taking about 27-30 days), reducing the moisture content from 60% to about 12%. Beans processed using the natural method have the lowest acidity, obvious sweetness, high body but slightly lower cleanliness. The green beans appear light yellow with a slight fermented aroma.

FrontStreet Coffee Roasting Records

FrontStreet Coffee's roaster roasted the Sweet Orange Estate using Yang's semi-direct flame method, with 600g of beans. The roaster was preheated to 200°C before adding the beans, with the damper set to 3. After 30 seconds, the heat was turned on and adjusted to 160. The return to temperature point was at 1'31". Keeping the heat constant, the beans turned yellow at 5'15", the grassy smell disappeared, entering the dehydration stage. The heat was reduced to 130, and the damper opened to 4. When reaching 170°C, the heat was reduced again to 110. At 8'40", dehydration was complete, with wrinkles and black spots appearing on the bean surface, and the toast aroma turned to coffee aroma, which was the prelude to first crack. At this point, the heat remained unchanged, the damper opened to 5, and attention was paid to listening for the first crack sound. First crack began at 9'11", with the damper fully open at 5. The development time after first crack was 2 minutes, and the beans were discharged at 192.4°C.

FrontStreet Coffee's roaster roasted the Las Gemelas Estate using Yang's semi-direct flame method, with 300g of beans. When the roaster reached 175°C, the beans were immediately added, with the heat at 130 and the damper set to 3. The return to temperature point was at 1'36". When the roaster temperature reached 140°C, the damper was opened to 3.5, with the heat unchanged. When the roaster temperature reached 151.1°C, the bean surface turned yellow, the grassy smell completely disappeared, entering the dehydration stage. When the roaster temperature reached 176°C, the heat was adjusted to 100, with the damper unchanged. At 8'28", ugly wrinkles and black spots appeared on the bean surface, and the toast aroma clearly turned to coffee aroma, which could be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this point, it was important to listen carefully for the first crack sound. First crack began at 9'00", with the damper adjusted to 4. The development time after first crack was 1'40", and the beans were discharged at 196°C.

FrontStreet Coffee Cupping Comparison

FrontStreet Coffee conducts cupping within 8-24 hours after roasting sample coffee beans. FrontStreet Coffee's baristas typically use 200ml ceramic bowls for cupping. The water temperature used for cupping is 94°C, with the grind size controlled to pass through a #20 standard sieve (0.85mm) at a rate of 70%-75%. The ratio is 11.1 grams of coffee powder to 200ml of hot water, i.e., 1:18.18, which extracts a concentration exactly within the golden cup range of 1.15%-1.35%, with a soaking time of 4 minutes.

Sweet Orange Estate dry aroma: roasted peanuts, spices; wet aroma: dark chocolate; flavor: grapes, orange peel, almonds, brown rice tea, dark chocolate, caramel.

Las Gemelas Estate dry aroma: fermented aroma; wet aroma: berries; flavor: berry juice, grapes, ripe fruit fermented aroma, brown sugar.

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Comparison

Dripper: V60#01

Water temperature: 91°C

Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15

Grind size: medium-coarse grind/BG6s (80% pass-through rate on Chinese standard #20 sieve)

FrontStreet Coffee uses segmented extraction: first pour 30g of water and bloom for 30 seconds; second pour injects 95g of water (scale shows 125g); completed in about 1 minute and 5 seconds; third pour injects 100g of water (scale shows 225g), completed in about 1 minute and 40 seconds; total extraction time is 2 minutes and 10 seconds, remove the dripper to complete brewing.

Brewing flavor: Sweet Orange Estate has orange peel aroma on entry, with the sweet and sour taste of grapes and oranges. The middle section has almond and dark chocolate aroma, with caramel-like aftertaste, and a clean mouthfeel. Meanwhile, Las Gemelas Estate has a full juice sensation on entry, with the fermented feeling of ripe berries, similar to the solid and full-bodied taste of wine, with brown sugar-like aftertaste.

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Tel:020 38364473