Honduras Rafael Ramirez: Sample Coffee Roasters

Honduras
Rafael Ramirez

Washed process Catuai, IHCAFE 90

Flavour: date, citrus rind, plum

Body: Acidity:

Like many coffees, the story of this origin is also that of generations within a family.

Rafael Ramirez has owned a coffee farm at a low altitude in Honduras for some years.

His son Nelson trained as an agronomist and purchased a farm at higher altitude from a friend who was forced to sell the farm after many years of bad prices in the coffee market. Nelson’s goal was to use his knowledge to produce high quality coffee, allowing his crops to earn significantly more than the commodity coffee price.

Nelson transformed the quality of the coffee coming from the farm with improved farming techniques and coffee processing, including drying and wet process. With this was able to offer a great product, helping him to connect with specialty coffee roasters around the globe.

At this stage, Rafael helped his son Nelson by taking care of the higher altitude farm. While working there, he decide to be part of the quality-focused approach, buying a section of Nelson’s farm.

Caravela (our sourcing partners in Honduras) started working with Rafael and together they separated his first crop. His new approach worked: the quality was remarkable.

Unfortunately, the following year his crop wasn’t at the same quality, lacking complexity and he couldn’t sell his crop at the premium specialty.

Meeting the challenge, Rafael focused on improving and replanting the trees on his section of the farm. In the years since, the quality of his crop has bounced back, and we’re proud to be sharing his most recent crop with you.

Sourcing and ingredients

100% Catuai, IHCAFE 90 coffee beans, roasted by us on Gadigal land / Sydney.

Country grade: Unknown ?

Packaging

Bag: ABA Certified home compostable
Label: Recyclable
Valve (on bags larger than 250g): General waste
Coffee ordered online is shipped in a recyclable cardboard box

Brewing this coffee

We recommend brewing this coffee 15–49 days post-roast. If pre-ground, brew as soon as possible. Our advice on storing coffee.

1:3
dose:yield
ratio

To brew on espresso, we recommend using 20g of beans (dose) to get 60g of espresso out (yield), during 24-28 seconds.

g dose

g yield

View the how to brew espresso (single origin) guide.

1:16.7
beans:water
ratio

To brew in infusion/fed brewers (V60, Chemex) use a ratio of 1:16.7 ratio of beans:water.

g beans

g water

View full recipes and videos in our brewguides

1:14.3
beans:water
ratio

To brew in immersion brewers (plunger, AeroPress, Kalita, batch brewer) we recommend using a 1:14.3 ratio of beans:water

g beans

g water

View full recipes and videos in our brewguides

1:12
beans:water
ratio

To brew as cold brew we recommend using a 1:12 ratio of beans:water

g beans

g water

View full recipes and videos in our brewguides

Producer: Rafael Ramirez
Country: Honduras
Region: El Cielito, Santa Barbara
Altitude: 1550m above sea level
Varietals: Catuai, IHCAFE 90
Process: Washed
Body: Medium
Acidity: Sparkling
Tasting notes: Date, citrus rind, plum
Roast style: Omni (filter + espresso)

Varietals

Catuai varietal

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

IHCAFE 90 varietal

Developed in the 90s by the Honduras Coffee Research Institute, IHCAFE 90 is a hybrid of Caturra and Sarchimor

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.