Honduras
Juan Contreras
Finca Miraflores

Washed process Parainema

Flavour: plum, blackcurrant, red grape

Body: Acidity:

Juan Contreras’s coffee is fermented in concrete fermentation tanks, for between 16–24 hours. His coffee is the dried on raised beds under shade. The coffee is then stored at Beneficio San Vicente, in parchment, inside Grainpro bags to protect the beans from the humidity (these are the green plastic-like bags you’ll sometimes see inside hessian sacks in our photos).

Alongside the Finca Genesis COE, this is also the first time we’ve shared a coffee featuring the Parainema varietal.

It’s a relatively unusual coffee varietal, found mostly on farms in Honduras and Costa Rica. Parainema is a hybrid created in the 1980s by IHCAFE, Honduras’ national coffee association.

Like most hybrids created by associations, its origins come in fighting pests and disease that threaten the local crops. In the case of Parainema, it brings restistance to leaf rust and nematodes, the latter being a particular problem with the tradition of planting coffee alongside banana plants.

Learn everything about this coffee:

Ethical, traceable sourcing

This page has all the sourcing information (variety, process, region, story, importer, and more) that our importers share with us, and give us permission to use.

The transparency helps us talk confidently about the quality and background of our product, and it helps you know exactly what you’re buying.

Learn more:
Coffee page transparency legend
Our coffee philosophy
Our business approach

Fresh harvest coffee

We only source and roast coffee from each country’s latest harvest season (so the green coffee is never older than 1 year from the time of picking, processing and packing). This ensures the sensory qualities are always at their peak and unaffected by excessive ageing.

Roasted for espresso and filter (best enjoyed black)

Roast style: omni. Omni roasts are designed to brew and taste great both as espresso and filter. Our omni single origins generally sit on Agtron values in the ~70-60 value range. So, technically, they are somewhere in the lighter side of the medium spectrum.

Designed for espresso and filter brewing. Best enjoyed black.

Learn more:
Our Loring Kestrel S35 roaster
Our roasting style and approach

Best brewed within days 15-49 post-roast

The ‘fresh is best’ saying doesn’t apply to coffee (contrary to popular belief). Waiting before opening and brewing your bag of whole coffee beans helps develop peak flavour and acidity.

But heads up: if you buy pre-ground coffee, brew it as soon as possible.

Learn more:
Our recommended brewing window

Try our custom brewing recipes

Our recipes and ratios are tailored to our coffee sourcing and roasting styles, bringing the best flavour and feel out of each coffee.

For pour over, immersion, and other filter brewing styles, check our brew guides.
For our espresso single origins, we recommend a coffee:yield ratio of 1:3:

Dose: 20g ground coffee
Yield: 60g espresso
Total brew time: ~24-28 seconds

This is just a starting point! We encourage you to experiment, taste, and adjust to find the recipe that you enjoy the most.

Learn more:
Our espresso brew guide (single origin)
Brewing ratio calculator

Packaging and sustainability

Bags: ABA-certified home compostable (AS 5810-2010)
Labels: recyclable
Valves (only on +250g bags): general waste
Box and tape (online orders): recyclable

Learn more:
Our packaging

Producer: Juan Contreras
Country: Honduras
Region: Las Flores, Santa Barbara
Altitude: 1400m above sea level
Variety: Parainema
Process: washed
Harvested: March 2017
Importer: Caravela
Body: Medium
Acidity: Vibrant
Tasting notes: Plum, blackcurrant, red grape
Roast style: Omni (filter + espresso)

Variety

Parainema variety

A relatively unusual hybrid created in the 1980’s by IHCAFE, Honduras’ national coffee research centre

The location

Coffee from Honduras

The largest producer of coffee in Central America and one of our favourite coffee producing nations, capable of producing fruit driven coffees with a great, vibrant acidity.

The Opalaca region of Honduras

Southern part of Santa Barbara falls within this region. The area is named after the Opalaca mountain range

Farm processes

Washed process

Machines are used to remove the flesh from the coffee cherry before being fermented in water, washed again, and finally sun dried. This process tends to result in more distinct, cleaner flavours.