How is Honduran Coffee? How Should You Brew Orange-Flavored Honduran Coffee?

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Honduran Coffee Update

News!

According to data from the Honduran Coffee Institute (IHCAFE), Honduras exported a total of 281,470 bags (60kg per bag) of coffee in December 2020, a 20% decrease compared to 339,952 bags in the same period last year. The Honduran Coffee Institute believes that the significant decrease in coffee exports in December was caused by stricter social isolation measures implemented by major coffee-consuming countries to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to reduced coffee consumption demand.

When it comes to Honduran coffee, FrontStreet Coffee's whiskey barrel-fermented sherry coffee beans and brandy barrel-fermented brandy coffee beans are likely familiar to many. Since Moka Estate introduced barrel-fermented coffee beans, they have left a lasting impression due to their distinctive flavors. Besides Moka Estate, other coffee estates in Honduras are also worth exploring, such as El Naranjo Estate mentioned in this article.

Marcala Coffee Region

Marcala

This region covers the provinces of La Paz, Comayagua, Santa Bárbara, and Intibucá, connected by the Montecillos central mountain range. The elevation ranges from 1,300 to 1,700 meters, with annual rainfall between 1,700-2,200 millimeters. High-quality coffee grown in the Marcala region enjoys a good reputation and image in the international market.

Currently, this region also has a protected designation of origin coffee called "Marcala Coffee" as an alternative to improve competitiveness and protect coffee produced in the area. Through cupping, FrontStreet Coffee found that coffee beans from this region have a bright and lively acidity in their aroma, a delicate citrus flavor, an overall smooth mouthfeel, and a floral finish.

El Naranjo Estate

El Naranjo

Honduras's naturally suitable soil and water conditions allow a batch of high-quality coffee trees to grow in Honduras's El Naranjo Estate. The estate is named because the shade trees used for coffee cultivation at El Naranjo Estate are tall wild orange trees, which have a very strong orange aroma.

Perhaps when the coffee trees are flowering, the orange trees are also flowering, and pollen from the orange trees falls into the coffee flowers, or because the roots of coffee trees and orange trees intermingle in the same soil, mutually providing/absorbing each other's nutrients. Coffee grown at this estate has a rare rich sweetness and layered floral and fruity aromas. Through cupping, FrontStreet Coffee found that both the slight astringency similar to orange peel and the fresh fragrance of orange blossoms can be found in El Naranjo Estate.

Coffee Bean Varieties

Catuai

El Naranjo Estate primarily grows Catuai. The estate owner prunes coffee trees to no more than 150 centimeters because if they grow too tall, ladders are required for harvesting, which is time-consuming and may damage the tree body by bending branches. Since each coffee fruit ripens at different times, maintaining good coffee bean quality requires manual harvesting, followed by selecting only the ripe fruits.

Catuai was introduced to Honduras in 1979 and became widely popular among farmers by 1989. Today, the Catuai variety accounts for more than 60% of all coffee production in Honduras. Similar to Caturra, Catuai coffee plants are short, suitable for intensive cultivation, and have good resistance to natural disasters, particularly wind and rain. Another advantage is their solid fruit set, which doesn't easily fall off in strong winds, compensating for the fragility of Arabica coffee trees. The disadvantage of Catuai is its susceptibility to pests and diseases. To solve this problem, the Honduran Coffee Institute has been working on developing hybrids of Catuai and Catimor to enhance disease resistance.

Coffee Bean Processing Method

Washed

To better express the rich floral and fruity aromas of the estate's beans, El Naranjo Estate uses the washed processing method, which makes the beans' overall performance cleaner. The selected coffee cherries are put into a depulper to initially remove the skin and pulp. The coffee beans with remaining pulp and mucilage are placed in water and fermented for about 12-36 hours depending on local temperature changes. After fermentation, the parchment coffee beans are placed in flowing water channels to wash away remaining pulp and mucilage. After washing, the coffee beans are dried either by sun-drying or using drying machines until the moisture content reaches about 12%, and finally the parchment is removed from the coffee beans.

FrontStreet Coffee Roasting Records

FrontStreet Coffee's roaster noticed that this coffee belongs to the SHB grade, with medium bean density. The yellowing point occurs around 5 minutes and 15 seconds, then the heat is reduced and the air damper opened to enter the Maillard reaction. At first crack, the air damper is opened wide while maintaining heat at about 192.4°C. The beans are dropped 2 minutes after first crack.

Yangjia 600g semi-direct flame roaster: Preheat to 200°C, set air damper to 3. Turn on heat after 30 seconds, adjust to 160 heat. Temperature return point at 1'31". Maintain heat, turn yellow at 5'15", grassy aroma disappears, entering dehydration stage. Reduce heat to 130, open air damper to 4. When reaching 170°C, reduce heat again to 110. Dehydration completes at 8'40", wrinkles and black spots appear on bean surface, toast aroma turns to coffee aroma, as prelude to first crack. At this point, maintain heat unchanged, open air damper to 5, and listen for first crack. First crack begins at 9'11", air damper fully opened to 5. Development time after first crack is 2 minutes, drop at 192.4°C.

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Experience

To better express the rich floral and fruity aromas and layered complexity of this coffee bean, FrontStreet Coffee decided to use the V60 dripper for brewing. The spiral rib design of the V60 dripper not only extends the contact time between coffee grounds and water but also allows water flow to concentrate toward the center point of the dripper along the spiral grooves, creating compression on the coffee grounds through the gravity of water flow to form higher layer complexity.

Water temperature: 90°C

Coffee amount: 15g

Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15

Grind size: Medium-fine (77% passing through #20 sieve)

This time, we used segmented brewing. First, pour 30g of water for a 30-second bloom, at which point the coffee expands into a "hamburger" shape. Second segment: pour 125g of water in small circles at the center. Pouring height is 4cm, with gentle force to minimize agitation of the coffee bed, water flow rate at 4g per second. Wait until the water level drops to half the coffee bed before starting the third segment. This segment also involves gentle pouring from center outward in circles until reaching 225g total water. End extraction when all coffee liquid has dripped through the filter, taking 2'01". After brewing is complete, gently swirl to ensure the coffee liquid is fully mixed before tasting.

Brewing flavors: The entry has a slight astringency similar to orange peel and a faint orange blossom aroma, followed by grapefruit-like lively acidity and green tea notes, finishing with roasted peanut-like aftertaste.

For more specialty coffee beans, please add the private WeChat of FrontStreet Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee), WeChat ID: kaixinguoguo0925

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473