Finca el Puente in Honduras was one of the first "famous" farms some of us remember from our early days as coffee nerds. For Ben, the Caballeros were the first coffee farmers he had ever met, around 2006. For Micah, el Puente was one of the first annual, celebrated coffees at his first cafe job. For Will, this coffee has been a mainstay at Roundhill, a roaster he's worked with for more than a decade. Marysabel and Moises Caballero are rock-star producers and have our complete respect for how they run their farm both socially and environmentally.
That makes it a little weird that the first coffee we have from them is in our new 'Misfits' line of 'post specialty' coffees. It's also a great example of why we created this lineup. But let's talk about this particular lot first: It has notes of Caramel, Walnuts and Plums.
What's the story? We had originally pre-booked a couple of bags with the importer (Nordic Approach) based on a pre-shipment sample. By the time the coffee arrived, it was clear there had been some sort of mixup or processing error. There were a lot of quakers, off-coloured beans, and other minor defects. BUT when these were sorted out, the heart of the coffee still remained. We were offered a lower price from the importer for the decrease in quality, and then we actually increased the purchase to 10 bags. We decided to sell it both as a single-origin coffee and as a component for blending. Our optical colour sorter lets us sort out the less tasty coffee, leaving an easy drinking cup at a nice price.
Is this coffee the best that the Caballeros have to offer? Not at all. They produce some of the best coffees from Honduras (or really anywhere in the world). They are incredible. But even the best producers have lots like this that don't turn out quite right. As a specialty industry, we usually reject these lots, and leave it to the farmers and importers to sort out who does or doesn't get paid. We don't even think about what happens to the coffee itself, or the fact that producers often need to sell every bean just to break even. We'd like to think that every coffee has a home. If we can take some of that responsibility as roasters, then this means more support for farmers while connecting delicious coffees with people who will enjoy them — at a bargain!
Elevation: 1600-1850 MASL
Varietal: Catuai
Cup Score: 87
Price Paid per KG: £10.00
Process: Extended fermentation natural
