HONDURAS ARTURO PAZ GESHA
Country - Honduras
Region - Santa Barbara
Altitude – 1630 - 1730 masl
Varietal – Gesha
Process – Washed
TANGERINE, GRAPEFRUIT, HONEY, CARDAMOM, SUGARY SWEETNESS, SILKY AND TEA-LIKE TEXTURE, LINGERING SPARKLING CHAMPAGNE FINISH
HONDURAS
The etymology of the word Honduras translates to “depths.” The country has an endless depth of history, culture, diversity, and potential. Home to direct Mayan descendants some of the most well-preserved Mayan ruins in the world, Honduras is a proud and persistent country. Honduras is also one of the most diverse places in the Western Hemisphere, boasting over 700 species of birds, over 100 species of mammals, over 6,000 species of plants, and more species being discovered regularly. The diversity, tenacity, climate, and rich volcanic soil all build the stage for coffee farmers to prosper. However, sometimes there are obstacles that aren’t so easily overcome.
Honduras has quietly become the largest coffee-producing country in Central America. While it may not have the prestige as some of its neighbors like Guatemala, Costa Rica, or El Salvador, Honduras has been exporting more coffee than any other nation in the region, coming in as the seventh largest in the world for coffee export.
Due to a heavier focus on volume, Honduras has not been known for high quality. Transport and processing infrastructure in Honduras pose some problems. Poor processing leads to inferior quality coffee, even if the coffee was grown in perfect conditions. Honduran farmers would often smuggle their crop into neighboring Guatemala, El Salvador, or Nicaragua to fetch higher prices. This led to some of the best coffee in Honduras getting sold as coffee from those other places.
Honduran producers also battle against coffee leaf rust, a fungal infection that leads to loss of leaves and prevents cherry development. It spreads quickly, and for smallholder farmers, which comprise 95% of coffee farmers in Honduras, it could mean total crop devastation. Little support to the farmers was given for a long time, leading them to take matters into their own hands.
Many farmers have banded together into small, supportive networks. Some groups have formed cooperatives that have been certified by organizations like Fair Trade. Others have simply pooled their resources together to purchase centralized mills that they own collectively and have improved their processing methods. Through the hard work and diligence of specialty-focused producers, the perception and quality of Honduran coffee have changed.
Gesha Variety
One of the determining factors of quality and flavor in coffee is the variety of coffee that is grown. Just like apples, grapes, and all other agricultural products, the genetics of a plant cause all kinds of variations. Coffee is no exception. Each individual type of plant will have specific features that can be seen as a pro or a con, and that can help or hurt depending on what outcome is desired and the environmental factors at the farm. Gesha is a fantastic example of this.
Ethiopia is the home of Coffea Arabica. Most coffee varieties are genetically distanced from Ethiopia by more than 300 years of cultivation. The choices made over that period have narrowed genetics in the few varieties we generally find growing in most places today. Most of today’s coffee varieties have been bred to produce far higher yields, larger fruit, and on smaller, easier-to-harvest trees. This all sounds great, but when the genetics of a plant narrow, meaning less variation, the plants are far more susceptible to disease. So, most of today’s coffee trees look and produce much differently than the age-old varieties that are still growing wildly in Ethiopia.
To reestablish genetic variation and prevent disease and pest distribution, the Costa Rica-based organizations Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center trekked deep into the Gori Gesha Forest in the Kaffa Region of Ethiopia and returned to Costa Rica with a small seedbank. Among those seeds was our star variety – named for the forest – Gesha.
When planted in Costa Rica, Gesha didn’t flourish. It was almost dismissed entirely but left to grow in a few obscure farms where its fruit was simply blended in with all kinds of other regional varieties.
In the early 2000’s the landscape of Specialty Coffee began to drastically change. Roasters began to visit coffee farms, highlight specific farmers, processing methods, and coffee varieties. Suddenly, we see information about coffee farm altitude, how the seeds were cleaned and dried, and what type of trees the coffee was harvested from find its place on coffee bags next to roast degree and country names.
A bourgeoning group of highly entrepreneurial and adventurous roasters and farmers put together a new program called The Cup of Excellence. This program allowed farmers in specific countries to submit their coffee to a blind panel of expert coffee tasters to be ranked. The top-ranking coffees are then auctioned off to the top bidder. This program began to highlight farmers who had heretofore been obscured and simply delivering their coffee to local market and commodity channels for cash in hand. Almost immediately, we see coffee from very specific and remote areas pop on the tasting table and the farmer is gifted with both fame and a whole new level of income.
In 2004, during a competition very similar to The Cup of Excellence, there was a coffee that people could not stop talking about. It tasted like a clean, bright, floral washed Ethiopian coffee. We offer several coffees of this type and style each year if you are curious to taste that profile. However, this competition was being held in Panama, called The Best of Panama, where coffees were known for being mellow, rich, and subtle. This coffee was exploding with flavors that were new to most of these experienced tasters, even better than the best coffees found in Ethiopia. For most, it was far and away the best coffee they had ever had.
This Gesha variety had migrated across the border from Costa Rica to Panama and landed on a now world-famous farm – Hacienda La Esmerelda. Gesha found its perfect niche’, the place where its flavor potentially was potentially at its peak. This environment was different and more conducive for it than where it had first been planted in Costa Rica. Times had also changed to support a value proposition that was focused on flavor and not simply yield.
Since then, Gesha seeds have found their way around the world to farms near and wide. Farmers are trying their hand at seeing whether those wild flavors will propagate in this variety in their terroir. One of these farms is owned by the Paz family in Honduras.
Ángel Arturo Paz Ramírez
Meeting Angel Paz, it’s hard to immediately tell that he is a world famous and highly sought after coffee professional. He’s quiet and calm, with sparkling eyes that seem more curious than experienced. His energy is youthful, despite the few gray hairs whispering a subtle insight to his wisdom. When he begins to speak about coffee, however, his brow furrows and his gaze deepens as he reaches into his rich experience with a careful determination to find the right words and stories what will accurately convey his perspective. All the while, a humble charm persists within his conversations. The name Paz (English - Peace) certainly fits Angel.
Angel is a third-generation farmer and is very close to his family, including uncles, aunts, cousins, and beyond. Together, the Paz family owns and manages a dry mill and export company in Peña Blanca, Santa Barbara, Honduras called San Vicente Coffee Exporters. We are proud to partner with them for several of the coffees we bring to Kansas City.
In 2012, Angel and his joyful cousin Benjamin, who is also a very famous coffee farmer and exporter, began their own small group of farm plots in a very rural part of Santa Barbara that borders a wildlife preserve. When hiking on the farm you can hear the vigilant mantled howler monkeys, sacred to the region and threatened by deforestation, shouting from trees deep in the forest. The farm opens and closes, weaving through the forest boundaries. Coffee is used in many regions around the world as a buffer crop, serving as a protective rim to the precious forest. Coffee is non-invasive. When a farmer cares for the farm that is along the reserve border, the farmer is also protecting that border, holding the line against so many other flora and fauna looking to invade and take advantage of the delicate ecosystems.
This farm is also very high for Honduras (1630 – 1730m,) cool, and damp. The mountains grab the small amount of moisture the dry Honduran air holds and bundles it into shrouding clouds that hang thick around the deeply green trees. This differentiates this region from most of the rest of Honduras. Honduras is known for being one of the dryer countries in Central America, especially during the dry season. This area remains lush and stands in stark contrast to the rest of the terrain with its ranges of green hues.
The region of Santa Barbara was not always known for high quality coffee. In fact, quite the opposite was true. The Paz family has invested heavily in finding the right variety of coffee for the right microclimate. Santa Barbara is a central region. It boasts the largest freshwater lake in Honduras. The Santa Barbara Mountain rises directly from the lake and is dotted with coffee farms along its slopes. Most of these farms have delivered their coffee to commercial sources for immediate cash. The Paz family began to spend time in the region discovering farms that had incredible potential.
What does it mean for a farm to have potential? There are a few things that need to be in place for coffee to reach a high level of quality. Some of these may be more obvious than others, like climate, soil composition, angle toward the sun, and things like this – luck of location. However, along with the luck factors come hard work. A farm needs a manager who is invested in quality, who will put in the hard work required and dedication that it takes to wrangle a diamond from the dirt. In communities where farmers have been doing their work a certain way for generations, these kinds of changes can be hard to sway a farmer to make, despite the potential upside of much higher payments for their coffee. Promises of high reward for the high risk of variety conversions seem like pie in the sky promises. This kind of a quality movement takes time and trust.
The Paz family has put in that time and established that trust. Creating ideal farms that show the fullest potential that coffee can achieve in the region is part of this mission. By creating a world class coffee on his own farm with his own hands and investment, Angel has proven to so many anxious farmers that Honduras, no… Santa Barbara, Honduras can stand high and proud amongst the world’s most incredible coffee regions. He has also learned what it takes to take hopes and turn them into reality and can gently, humbly, yet capably guide those farmers who want to jump into the Specialty Coffee pool to do so with confidence and support.
San Vicente Export Company is also there to support these farms during transitions. They don’t only export the top grades but work with varied coffee styles and grades. They provide farmers with access to the coffee market, help them with input support like fertilizers and advice, and grade the coffee in ways that help each lot earn its highest potential payment.
To achieve the pinnacle of coffee excellence in Honduras, Angel has invested in some of the rarest and stories varieties of coffee. He has divided his farm into plots, each cultivating a different variety, including Pacas, Pacamara, Bourbon, Maragogype, and among many others is a special plot of Gesha.
Angel’s Gesha is exquisite. It is a true gem and achievement. We are filled with gratitude to be counted among the few roasters around the world that Angel has offered his most prized coffee to - floral honey, intense citrus, sweet and intense. If flavors are like colors, then this coffee is the rainbow, and vibrantly visible.