Masteroast Origin Trip - Stop two of three is Honduras

Marie-Anne Rogers (Coffee buyer) and Alicia Fieldhouse (Sales Support and Technical) visit South America.

​Here we were told about the problems that Honduran coffee farmers face, including issues with smuggling, corruption and high taxes. Although the SCAA Cup of Excellence has helped to     
put Honduras on the coffee map, prices paid for Honduran coffee are generally still low despite producer taxes reaching all-time highs. These factors make reinvestment opportunities for farmers very difficult and so future crops are unstable. Having large exporters who will buy all qualities and lot sizes at fair prices is really important to the future of coffee farming.
Gerry took us to our hotel where we met Mathew Mills (BTG) who would be joining us for the duration of our stay in Honduras. 

Gerry stayed for a beer and we discussed the country at length, he was very knowledgeable about its history and current status.
The next morning we had an early start in order to get to all the farms we would be visiting. The weather had taken a drastic turn and we were travelling in thick fog – it was so cold up in the mountains! We met up with one of the estate managers who led the way for the last few kilometres on his moped. The first stop was a small school for the local children, 40 children aged between 2 and 8 were there to receive their new school exercise books for the beginning of the year.  We then visited a long established, small farm of about 8 manzanas – the farmer was in the process of re-planting trees to replace those which were too old to produce a good crop any longer. ​

Looking a little chilly at the farm!

​A bit further up the mountain we stopped at a very small mill. It was the first example we had seen of a working farm with its own processing facilities, there were workers sorting through beans on the drying beds. It was also the first time we had seen African drying beds which were covered over. These can help to speed up the drying process when required because of the temperatures reached inside but it is also possible to temperature control them by opening doors at either ends to create a cross breeze. 

As evident from the pictures, there was no need for anyone to open any doors! It was very chilly up the mountains and eerily quiet - we felt like we were in a scene from Jurassic Park! 

Inspecting the beans on the drying bed

Shooting a scene from Jurassic Park!

​We headed back into town to visit Hondu Café, another family run exporter who have a strong focus on the farmers and their families. They impressed us with the technological approach to contacting their employees using both Live Skype sessions and an online database which tracks not only the product from each farm but also keeps an eye on the trucks transporting the coffee for safety reasons. As we were warned before this trip, there is still a lot of corruption and organised crime in Honduras, with coffee being one of three mass produced commodities (the others being cane sugar and palm oil) which can fetch a good price (up to 30% of GDP) , the regularity of coffee trucks being hi-jacked is alarming. Terrence (son of the owner) had organised for us to take part in a cupping of all their current lots to show the variances from each of the 6 regions they buy from. We also tasted some more speciality coffees, some of which had very ​

different flavour profiles to those Hondurans we are used to experiencing. After a long day full of travelling we went back to the hotel to rest before another big day tomorrow!

Lots of coffees to taste at the end of the day makes for a long night!

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After a good breakfast (more beans and fried plantain!) we headed once again to the mountains. We arrived at Beneficio Santa Rosa, where we met Lurvin Ventura and Douglas Urquia. We exchanged pleasantries over coffee and some traditional Honduran biscuits before we got into Douglas’ Ford Raptor (easily the most monstrous car we had ever seen!) – required for making our way up the dirt tracks to the farms, and headed off for the farm.

​We went to the processing facility, another large-scale operation, and then to the upstairs of the outbuilding where they had created a coffee shop for the workers. They had all of the traditional brewing apparatus as well as 3 group head espresso machines. We all had delicious coffees made by the barista trained Q grader before we went on our way to walk through some of the plantation. I also managed to ride on the bag of the pick-up which is something I had wanted to do from the beginning of our trip!

Beneficio Santa Rosa is, in hindsight, the most impressively organised and well-managed farm that we saw. We visited Las Capucas, a huge operation run by Douglas. Not only was it the largest drying operation we had seen but they had several sideline operations using either by-product from the coffee plants or utilising the eco-system around them. For example, from the leftover cherry flesh they were producing a high-quality, nutrient-rich soil ‘cake’ which could be used in the nursery for growing in the future. They also have honey harvests from the hives in the area – they believe the honey has a caffeine content due to the bees collecting pollens form the coffee flowers!
In addition to this, they also have tourist lodges, which they open to the public but also for conferences and business events. We had some lunch in the dining room – lovely fish with salad and rice! Marie-Anne made friends with the chef’s chow chow puppy, Mambo...
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Mambo really liked M-A's trousers

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The whole group at the coffee shop (bottles of honey in the foreground!)

Inspecting the crop

plane really showed the beauty of the country, vast forests over the mountains and volcanoes. We flew into Managua, Nicaragua which was remarkably different, flying over very flat and barren looking land. Managua itself is quite Americanised and with a huge variety of ethnicities, far more white Spanish speakers than the other places we had visited. 

Alicia Fieldhouse

Central American Gallery

The next and final stop on this trip is Nicaragua

A great view of a Volcano!