Chocolate Flavor Single-Origin Coffee Bean Recommendation: How to Brew Honduran Pacas Coffee from San Vicente Processing Plant

Honduras Growing Region Information

NEWS!

According to local Honduran traders, the COVID-19 pandemic is creating significant challenges for the ongoing coffee harvest in the country. This is due to domestic quarantine restrictions in Honduras and the inability of foreign labor to enter the country. Based on previous coffee harvest seasons in Honduras, 70,000 workers are needed to complete the harvest.

The coffee harvest in Honduras' El Paraíso region began in mid-December with only 40,000 local workers available. When all coffee-producing regions in Honduras enter their harvest season, if the labor shortage cannot be resolved in time, Honduras' 2021 coffee production will be severely impacted.

When thinking of black cherries and dark chocolate, images of Black Forest cake come to mind. What happened that made FrontStreet Coffee's barista imagine this? Taking a closer look—ah! They're cupping Pacas coffee beans from the San Vicente processing plant in Honduras~

FrontStreet Coffee - Honduras San Vicente Edgardo Tinoco Smallholder Coffee

Region: Honduras, Copán Department
Processing Plant: San Vicente Processing Plant
Processing Method: Washed
Altitude: 1600-1900m
Variety: Pacas
Grade: SHG

Copán Coffee Region

Copán Department is located in western Honduras, between the Copán, Ocotepeque, and Lempira regions, named after the city of Copán. Bordering Guatemala, this highlights once again the importance of knowing the true origin of coffee. Coffee cultivation is the most important socioeconomic source in this region, producing Honduras' finest quality coffee. The coffee harvest season runs from November to March each year. Through cupping coffees from the Copán region, FrontStreet Coffee found that the integration of honey and caramel sweetness within chocolate notes is a major characteristic of coffee beans from this region.

San Vicente Processing Plant

The San Vicente processing plant is located in the town of Peña Blanca in the Santa Barbara region of western Honduras. Coffee beans produced here have consistently been top performers in Honduras' Cup of Excellence (COE) competitions. This family-run processing plant is well-known locally for assisting farmers in improving cultivation techniques and modifying production equipment through specialized projects. They are dedicated to building close relationships with producers and rigorously control the quality of each batch through coffee cupping.

Simultaneously, the San Vicente processing plant purchases coffee cherries from smallholder farmers in surrounding towns such as El Cielito, Las Flores, and El Cedral. Due to the small quantities of coffee produced, it's difficult to separate these smallholder batches independently. However, coffee from these regions has consistently impressed with high sweetness and fruity notes, so they are collected together for green bean processing.

Edgardo Tinoco Smallholders

This Pacas coffee bean acquired by FrontStreet Coffee comes from the small village of Edgardo Tinoco near the San Vicente processing plant. The coffee farmers in this village have very small cultivation areas, making it impossible to separate and process green beans independently for micro-batch sales. Therefore, they can only sell collectively to the San Vicente processing plant for green bean processing, which is then sold under the village name.

Pacas Variety

Pacas is a natural mutation of the Bourbon variety, somewhat similar to Brazil's Catuai. Pacas also has a single-gene mutation that causes coffee trees to grow smaller (dwarfism), which is the main advantage of Pacas. The smaller size of Pacas coffee trees allows for potentially higher yields and enables trees to be planted closer together to increase total coffee production.

FrontStreet Coffee observed that Pacas and Catuai look very similar in appearance, with the same rounded and elongated shape as Catuai. From the side view of the coffee beans, Pacas has a slightly thinner overall profile than Bourbon.

Coffee Bean Processing Method

Selected coffee berries are placed in a depulper to initially remove their skin and pulp. The green beans with remaining pulp and mucilage are transferred to wooden tanks for washed fermentation for 18 to 24 hours. After fermentation completes, the green beans are washed in flowing clean water, removing pulp and mucilage through friction between coffee beans. After washing, the coffee beans are dried on raised drying beds at the San Vicente processing plant until moisture content reaches about 12%, and finally the parchment is removed from the green beans.

FrontStreet Coffee Roasting Profile

Roaster temperature 175°C, heat 130, damper opened to 3; turnaround point at 1'32", when roaster temperature reached 99.5°C, heat unchanged; at 140°C damper adjusted to 4. When roaster temperature reached 153.6°C, heat adjusted to 100, bean surface turned yellow, grassy smell completely disappeared, entering dehydration phase.

At 8'00", ugly wrinkles and black spots appeared on the bean surface, toast aroma clearly transformed to coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this point, listen carefully for the sound of first crack, which began at 9'28". After first crack, developed for 1'38" seconds, dropped beans at 193°C.

FrontStreet Coffee Cupping Notes

Dry Aroma: Almond, dark chocolate cake
Wet Aroma: Green apple
Flavor: Black cherry, green grape, dark chocolate cake, almond, caramel

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Experience

Through cupping, FrontStreet Coffee understood that this coffee bean has rich layers. To express these layered characteristics, FrontStreet Coffee uses a V60 dripper for brewing to enhance complexity and uses 91°C water temperature for this coffee.

Dose: 15g
Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15
Grind size: Medium-fine grind (78% retention on #20 sieve)

FrontStreet Coffee's step-by-step extraction method: First, use 30g of water to fully saturate the coffee bed into a "hamburger" shape and bloom for 30 seconds; For the second pour, at the 1-minute mark, inject water to 125g, then stop and wait for the water level to drop to 2/3 of the coffee bed before the third pour; For the third pour, at 1'45", inject water to 225g, waiting for the coffee to finish dripping completely. The total extraction time is 2'02". After extraction completes, gently swirl the server to ensure the coffee is well mixed before tasting.

Brewing Flavor: At high temperature, the entry shows slight astringency of plum, sweet and sour of black cherry, and almond aroma. After cooling down, the entry reveals sweet and sour of black cherry juice, aroma of dark chocolate cake, acidity of green grapes, and caramel almond aftertaste.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473