Visiting origin countries is a great way to gain real insights into coffee production, source your ideal coffees, and assess our industry's impact on its most crucial stakeholders: coffee farmers. This is the reason behind our frequent travel to Honduras and why we maintain a full-time local team to uphold ethical sourcing practices, ensure consistent quality, and foster long-lasting relationships.
In our latest blog, we discussed the importance of building long-term relationships in the coffee industry and the benefits of doing so when sourcing high-quality coffees. We genuinely believe that this holds true for all stakeholders in the industry, from baristas and roasters to importers and consumers. Once you visit local farms and meet the people responsible for the coffees we enjoy, you'll return home with a newfound appreciation for your coffee's journey and be able to transmit that same value to your customers, clients, and friends!
Journey to the Heart of Honduran Coffee
We are grateful to have had the opportunity to travel to Honduras frequently and to share this experience with both new and long-standing partners. Every trip is an adventure in itself, and here's what our typical journey looks like!
Meeting the Producers
This is one of, if not the most crucial, aspects of our journeys. We collaborate with producers from all around the country, so once in Honduras, we tend to travel extensively. Our last trip began in La Labor, a small town in the department of Ocotepeque, where some of our long-standing partners are located. We then proceeded to Copán, Marcala, Comayagua, and Santa Barbara to visit the rest of our producers.
This one-on-one time with our producing partners is typically filled with farm visits, learning about production and processing innovation, cupping, and leisure time to build a long-lasting bond centered around coffee, trust, and friendship.
Farm Visits
Every farm is unique in its terroir, climate, and challenges, so visiting different farms in different regions allows us to get a rounded view of the production landscape in Honduras. Exploring the different coffee-producing regions within the country is also an excellent way to discover Honduras' coffee diversity and sample various offerings to select your ideal coffees. Speaking with producers and touring their farms, understanding their day-to-day operations, and hearing firsthand about everything they do brings about a newfound appreciation for the final product.
Production & Processing Innovation
Given the uniqueness of these farms, many producers often have to innovate in production and processing practices to adapt and stand out in international markets. During our visits, we love learning about their internal practices because, more often than not, we discover unique ways in which producers elevate their coffees to the next level.
For example, Orlando Arita encloses his coffee cherries in water-filled drums, meticulously overseeing the pH and temperature to facilitate a gradual anaerobic fermentation. This process metabolizes the fruit sugars and enhances the coffee's flavor characteristics, resulting in a lusciously rich body. While we have seen this process rise in popularity within our industry, Orlando was a pioneer in this regard in Ocotepeque, and learning about his journey in the coffee world firsthand adds a new layer of value to his coffees and helps us create a stronger bond as commercial partners.
Cupping
Cupping at origin allows you to experience the flavors and nuances of Honduran coffee firsthand, bridging the coffee value chain and creating a more transparent and mutually beneficial relationship between coffee producers and roasters.
Dry Mill Tour
We can't wrap up the tour without first checking in on our export partners.
After getting to know the process at the farm, it's only natural to check in on our export partners. After all the hard work producing and processing the coffees, this is their final step in their journey in Honduras.
We're proud to work with two Dry Mills that help prepare our coffees for export!
Preparing for export
COMSA (Cafe Organico de Marcala)
We are proud to work alongside COMSA to share some of Honduras' best coffees with the world and support their initiatives to improve coffee quality and community standards through education.
COMSA has built a local school that follows the philosophy of Glenn Doman and is designed to help children with brain trauma injuries catch up and learn, allowing them to be normal kids. Rodolfo Peñalba has evolved the idea to include non-injured children. We are grateful for the opportunity to directly support this type of work and show our partners the collective impact in Honduran communities.
COCAFELOL
COCAFELOL is one of our long-term partners in Ocotepeque. Their ethical and quality-driven mentality helps us maintain traceability and transparency across our value chain. Erik, Selin, and Orlando coffees are some of our clients' favorites, so we love dropping by so they can take a look at how these coffees are prepared for export before arriving at their roasteries.
Connecting Through Coffee
While these origin trips are technically "work trips," their purpose extends beyond business. Coffee has the ability to bring together people from all walks of life and from all around the world. Being able to connect on a personal basis with everyone involved allows us to truly create a more unified industry.
While the trips may be exhausting and filled with learning, cupping, and negotiations, we love to indulge in leisure time. Being in Honduras, surrounded by nature, with friends, is the perfect excuse to travel around, try local experiences, and truly appreciate the local culture.
It's no wonder that all of our partners eventually become more like close friends to us, and that will probably be the case for you as well. Origin trips are simply an invaluable experience for any stakeholder working in the coffee industry!
Join us in Honduras!
Our journey to the heart of Honduran coffee embodies a commitment to ethical sourcing, quality relationships, and a profound appreciation for the diverse landscapes and innovative practices that shape the coffee industry.
Through extensive travel and personal connections with local producers, we have delved into the intricacies of coffee production, from farm visits in unique terroirs to witnessing groundbreaking processing innovations. The one-on-one time spent with our partners fosters enduring bonds built on trust, friendship, and a shared passion for the artistry of coffee.
We highly recommend this experience to anyone involved or interested in the coffee world, and it would be our pleasure to show you around the wonders of the Honduran Coffee Industry!
We will be hosting two origin trips during peak harvest season in 2024; one to Ocotepeque and one to Marcala! If you’d like to join in on our adventure, just shoot us a message! You’ll be able to find all the details and key information below!
Until next time!