Honduras
Las Acacias

Washed process Catuai

Flavour: panella, ripe pear, vanilla

Body: Acidity:

This farm has been producing high-quality specialty coffee for several years, but this year made a slight change in processing. This year the lot was soaked in clean water for 12 hours, after the fermenting and washing, similar to the Kenyan style of processing. This practice is sometimes used in Honduras to give a more transparent and complex flavour profile to the coffee.

Roger Antonio Domínguez Márquez comes from a long line of coffee producers, who have been producing coffee by hand for many years. Today the family incorporates some new practices in addition to the traditional farming techniques, to maintain production levels while maintaining quality and prioritising the conservation of the native forest around them.

The farm has an abundance of plants including plums, avocados and sweet gum and is home to animals such as squirrels, rabbits and wildcats.

A protected name

The Las Acacias farm is in the sub-region of Márcala, which when it comes to coffee production, is a protected geographic name under the same classifications as you might be familiar from wine (Italy’s Chianti) and cheeses (Switzerland’s Gruyère, and Italy’s Gorgonzola and Parmigiano Reggiano).

One benefit of the protected name is that it requires full traceability of the product from farm to export: also one of the key factors in shifting from commodity farming to exporting specialty coffee such as this.

Tropical climates

Honduras has a tropical climate, with but the rain that makes the land so lush creates problems when trying to dry the coffee beans after processing.

At Las Acacias, they’ve built covered drying beds, which are greenhouse-like structures with plastic sheets to shelter the drying coffee from the rain.

Covered drying beds at Las Acacias

You can compare this to the photos of other drying beds in Ethiopia, where rain is less of a concern.

The tropical climate can also cause problems when coffee is warehoused in hot conditions before export, something that's improving in line with the higher quality focus of the specialty side of Honduras coffee.

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

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Our packaging

Producer: Roger Antonio Domínguez Márquez
Country: Honduras
Region: Márcala, La Paz
Altitude: 1400m above sea level
Variety: Catuai
Process: washed
Harvested: March 2015
Importer: Silo
Body: Medium
Acidity: Medium
Tasting notes: Panella, ripe pear, vanilla
Roast style: Omni (filter + espresso)

Variety

Catuai variety

Created by the Instituto Agronomico do Campinas in Brasil, Catuai is a hybrid varietal between Caturra and Mundo Novo.

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.

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.