It is a sweet and balanced coffee that reminds us of a chocolate bar with nuts. Chocolate leads from the first sip and sets the tone for the entire cup, with blackberry providing a juicy touch and a delicate acidity. As it cools, the buttery and toasted macadamia nut emerges, rounding out the whole. A very versatile coffee, to be prepared black or with milk, and for any time of day.
HISTORY
Las Calaveras is part of Finca El Jardín. It is located in El Matazano, in the La Paz department, within the Montecillos mountain range, one of the highest and most renowned coffee-growing regions in Honduras. The farm has belonged to the Mejía family for four generations, but the coffee that arrives here today is the result of a fairly recent change.
Mario Samuel Mejía Rodríguez inherited sixteen hectares from his father and now manages fifty-two. He studied at the National Agricultural University and, starting in 2017, began transitioning El Jardín toward specialty coffee, first on just five hectares, until bringing the entire farm to that level. For generations, only washed coffees had been produced here, which is what has always been done in the region; Mario was the one who began experimenting with naturals and different fermentations, something very few people still do in that part of Honduras. His goal is to build a line of fine coffees scoring above 88 points without abandoning the commercial line that provides jobs to local farmers.
What interests us most about Mario does not happen only within his farm. He set up his own export structure to avoid depending on third parties and created the "Los Compaz" producers' cooperative to help his neighbors make the same leap to specialty coffee. He has raised his workers' wages, turned seasonal jobs into year-round stable employment, and is promoting English classes in local schools. Buying from Mario means supporting a project that is attempting to change how coffee works in his entire community, not just on his fifty-two hectares.
VARIETAL AND PROCESS
Pacas is a natural mutation of bourbon that appeared in El Salvador in the fifties, on the Pacas family's farm, from which it takes its name. It is a low-growing plant with short internodes, which allows it to be planted closer together, harvested more easily, and better withstand the wind. That is why it spread quickly throughout Central America and today it is one of the most planted local varieties in Honduras, although it is rarely seen processed with the care of a specialty lot.
This lot is an anaerobic natural. In a natural coffee, the bean is dried inside the whole fruit instead of being pulped beforehand, which gives it more sweetness and more fruit character than a washed one. The anaerobic part refers to what happens before drying: the cherry ferments inside a closed tank, without oxygen, with controlled time and temperature, which allows the fermentation to be directed towards more complex and unconventional profiles. It is exactly the type of work that Mario has introduced on a farm that for generations had only produced washed coffee.
RECIPE
For espresso:
Use a 17g dose to extract 47g of final beverage in the cup in 28 seconds.
