Origin of the Month

 

Organic Honduras Grasia Maria Penalba

(But we are calling it Honduran Ruby)

About the People

This organic microlot comes from Grasia María Peñalba and her parcel on the family farm, Finca La Perla Azul, in Marcala, Honduras. Grasia grew up within the coffee community surrounded by people within an organization called COMSA (Café Orgánico Marcala S.A.). COMSA sells both organic and conventional coffee, but its work extends well beyond coffee production.

The organization focuses heavily on sustainable agriculture, education, and community development, including an international school and agricultural training programs. At the center of much of that work is an idea called Finca Humana, or the Human Farm, the belief that a healthy farm depends not only on healthy soil and plants, but on healthy, educated, supported families and communities as well. The cooperative connects healthy soil and productive farms with education, family, community, and the development of the next generation.

Grasia is part of that next generation, and it is here she learned the organic farming practices she now uses on her own coffee. Her work at La Perla Azul is particularly interesting because she approaches harvesting with a tremendous amount of intention. Other documented lots from her farm have included selective picking, measurements of the sugar concentration in ripe coffee cherries using Brix readings, hand sorting, and flotation to remove damaged or lower-density fruit. Some harvests have even been timed around particular phases of the moon.

That level of attention gives us a pretty good idea of how seriously she takes what happens before the coffee ever leaves the farm.

About This Coffee

This coffee is an organic, fully washed microlot. Instead of Grasia’s coffee disappearing into a much larger regional selection, this coffee has been kept separate so we can trace it back to the individual producer who grew it.

This lot is washed, meaning the fruit surrounding the coffee seed is removed before the coffee is dried. Compared with natural or honey processing, washed coffees often allow the acidity, structure, and characteristics of the coffee itself to come through more clearly.

Normally, we share with you the varietal of coffee plant, but we can’t do that with this one. We can tell you that Grasia grows documented varietals at La Perla Azul, including Catuai and Parainema, but we have not found reliable documentation identifying the varietal in this specific washed lot. Rather than guess, we would rather tell you what we actually know. Other lots from La Perla Azul have been specifically identified as Catuai or Parainema, which is exactly why we don’t want to assume this one is the same.

What to Expect in Your Cup

This is a bright, clean coffee with notes of Honeycrisp apple, cranberry, grapefruit, and lemongrass. The cranberry gives it a tart red-fruit character, the Honeycrisp apple amplifies it, and grapefruit brings a lively citrus acidity. The lemongrass is lighter and more aromatic, showing up as a clean, almost tea-like quality in the cup.

There is enough sweetness and body underneath all that brightness to keep the coffee balanced rather than sharp.
If most of the Honduran coffees you have tried tend toward chocolate, caramel, nuts, or heavier sweetness, pay attention to this one. It shows just how different two coffees from the same country can be when you change the producer, the farm, the processing, and all the decisions that happen along the way. In this case we know exactly whose decisions we are tasting.