Shearwater Coffee: Honduras Santa Rosa Occidente |
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Rating: 9.4/10 Roast: Medium Body: Rich, smooth Acidity: Medium low (highly method-dependent*) Notes: Almond, chocolate Aroma: Nutty, cinnamon |
Honduras' Copan archaeological site
We are presently at the height of the optimal Honduran coffee harvesting period, which is reported to range from February to April this year. Coffee lovers everywhere have enjoyed the consistent quality of the annual exports of Honduras' Copan district's top coffee exporter, Beneficio Santa Rosa (recipient of Fair Trade USA's Presidential Award for Exporters in 2013) for years; this coffee follows suit to a tradition of delicious, clean West Honduran coffees. Connecticut's Shearwater Coffee Roasters is one of the few roasters currently offering Santa Rosan coffee at the moment; they will be releasing this Honduras Santa Rosa Occidente in the next few weeks, and honestly, I can't wait to get my hands on another bag!
First off, thanks to Ed and the team at Shearwater for the beautiful packaging that they sent me, which also included a small cloth sack of unroasted green coffee beans; I have never dealt with green coffee before and am very excited to possibly try these as my first roast!
This coffee is a wet-process Caturra and Catuai varietal, milled in Santa Rosa de Copan in Western Honduras. The department of the coffee's origin, Copan, is the mountainous subtropical home of tobacco and coffee farms, as well as the Copan archaeological site, said to be the most important city of the southeast reaches of the Classical Mayan empire. Here's some info Shearwater sent along about this coffee's processing: "Each of these lots where process is centralized in clean and organized wet mills. The fermentation time takes between eight and sixteen hours depending on weather conditions and temperature. After this fermentation the coffee is rinsed out on washing channels, and then is sun-dried on cement patios or elevated beds. Depending on the method of drying, as well as weather condition, this process can take from 5-12 days, until it reaches the desired exportable humidity content of 12%. After this level is reached, the coffee is transported to Beneficio Santa Rosa in Santa Rosa de Copan to be milled and exported." This patio sun-drying process that the farmers of Copan use is very reminiscent of bed drying traditionally employed in Ethiopia's Yirgacheffe, Hama, Sidamo departments, and even Burundi.
All in all, I think that the most accurate word to describe this coffee would be 'clean.' This coffee is clean in its smooth and consistent flavor profile, fairly toned-down notes, and very low acidity. No crazy, bursting flavors, but very rich and continuous chocolate and cherry flavors throughout the cup. The bag does include red grape as a taste note; I would liken it more to a strawberry jam (sweeter, less acidic).
First off, thanks to Ed and the team at Shearwater for the beautiful packaging that they sent me, which also included a small cloth sack of unroasted green coffee beans; I have never dealt with green coffee before and am very excited to possibly try these as my first roast!
This coffee is a wet-process Caturra and Catuai varietal, milled in Santa Rosa de Copan in Western Honduras. The department of the coffee's origin, Copan, is the mountainous subtropical home of tobacco and coffee farms, as well as the Copan archaeological site, said to be the most important city of the southeast reaches of the Classical Mayan empire. Here's some info Shearwater sent along about this coffee's processing: "Each of these lots where process is centralized in clean and organized wet mills. The fermentation time takes between eight and sixteen hours depending on weather conditions and temperature. After this fermentation the coffee is rinsed out on washing channels, and then is sun-dried on cement patios or elevated beds. Depending on the method of drying, as well as weather condition, this process can take from 5-12 days, until it reaches the desired exportable humidity content of 12%. After this level is reached, the coffee is transported to Beneficio Santa Rosa in Santa Rosa de Copan to be milled and exported." This patio sun-drying process that the farmers of Copan use is very reminiscent of bed drying traditionally employed in Ethiopia's Yirgacheffe, Hama, Sidamo departments, and even Burundi.
All in all, I think that the most accurate word to describe this coffee would be 'clean.' This coffee is clean in its smooth and consistent flavor profile, fairly toned-down notes, and very low acidity. No crazy, bursting flavors, but very rich and continuous chocolate and cherry flavors throughout the cup. The bag does include red grape as a taste note; I would liken it more to a strawberry jam (sweeter, less acidic).
I brewed a few French presses, V60s, and Aeropresses with the coffee and enjoyed very consistent and clean cups with each, even with the French press. With the French press, I used a 10:1 ounce water to coffee ratio (16 ounces water for one minute, add the other 16 ounces for three more minutes). I brewed with 22 grams of coffee and 350 grams of water with my V60 and enjoyed a very fresh, light cup. Finally, I used a spinoff of Lukas Zahradnik's 2015 World Aeropress Championship winning recipe (https://worldaeropresschampionship.com/recipes/), with the exception of my usage of a different grinder. To be honest, I would have preferred a bit more acidity with all brew methods, but this is really the only criticism that I can offer from a flavor standpoint (and it is likely that lack of acidity was a downfall of potential underextraction in my brewing processes, not the coffee itself).
Thanks again to Shearwater Coffee for letting us in on this delicious coffee. Definitely head on over to their website and be on the lookout for the release of this coffee soon; check out more of their current offerings here. Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for another review coming next week (check the upcoming coffees list to get a sneak peek (: )!
Thanks again to Shearwater Coffee for letting us in on this delicious coffee. Definitely head on over to their website and be on the lookout for the release of this coffee soon; check out more of their current offerings here. Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for another review coming next week (check the upcoming coffees list to get a sneak peek (: )!
