Honduras Strictly High Grown (SHG)

This weeks offering for single origin coffee is a high altitude Honduras. The SHG in the title refers to a bean that has been grown above 4000 meters. Beans grown at a higher altitude have a greater density, which results in a better cup result.

Honduran coffee isn’t really known for being at the pinnacle of the specialty coffee market, this however, is changing. It ticks all the boxes as a superior region for growing coffee: soil, altitude, climate, environment. Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua - The neighboring countries - have sophisticated coffee production resulting in true ’specialty coffees’, something Honduras lacks. What makes it lack the title and the higher price payed for ’specialty’ green beans is the poor infrastructure, poor coffee processing and even poorer transportation methods.

It has been known mostly as a source for commercial coffee (think instant coffee arabica), not specialty. This means that even a good quality Honduran like what we have roasted, won’t fetch a good price. The funny fact for this country is that they will even smuggle the better beans over the boarder to gain a higher price in neighboring markets. Without a drive for better prices, the farmer, the mill and the exporter aren’t educated to ask for a better price per kilo for the better grades of coffee. So Honduran coffee, even the nicer beans, end up as common blend-fillers. It becomes a vicious cycle.

This coffee we have roasted is the shining light of the Honduras coffee world. It is the beans that got processed the right way, fetched the right price for the farmer/miller and it has resulted in a better product by the time we ground it for you. I know we say it all the time - but try this one without any added sugar. It is sweet to drink and because of it’s high altitude, any acidity that it might have had is lost during the extraction. As a single origin, it might not be the best we have ever served you - but it definitely needs recognition as better than it might be perceived for. Give it a go, comment if you shall, we rate this one as a little more than morish.