Horsham Coffee Roaster - Honduras Finca El Caracol

Honduras has the ideal natural environment for growing coffee. High altitude, good soil and a processing and logistics setup that allows small farm owners to sell their coffee in micro-lot quantities. In 2013 we joined the DR Wakefield project 121. They set this up to connect roasters with small hold farmers in Honduras and the aim was to help develop long term relationships and full financial traceability. The farmer is directly paid 71% of the final green bean price and this sits at nearly double the fairtrade base price. An additional premium is also paid to the local co-operative community fund. The co-operative is fairtrade certified but also allows farmers to sell their speciality lots at better prices.

The owner Fausto Melgar and his wife Daisy own this 1.1 hectare farm and they produce around 30 x 69kg bags of coffee per year. Their Caturra trees grow in the shade of banana, mango, cedar and several other native tree types. No chemical fertilizer or pesticides are used and this has allowed them to gain organic certification. The harvesting is done by hand and the coffee is pulped, washed and dried in solar dryers on the farm. Coffee is their main source of income and this is supplemented by Daisy, a dressmaker. They have 3 young children.

This is a coffee that really shines as an espresso. The acidity is muted with a walnut like flavours. This comes through when cupping this coffee but as an espresso notes of sweet caramel and black cherry are also present. It's got great balance and shines in milk based drinks.