Overview
This selection from Benito Sanchez marks both the first time we’ve sourced coffee of this lesser-known variety, Parainema, and from this region of Honduras, Las Delicias! Benito learned to farm from his father and has been growing coffee in this area for the past 44 years on his family’s 5 hectare farm, El Higo, which sits in a relatively lower elevation area near the border of Nicaragua. However, because of the microclimate here that creates very cool nights, the cherry maturation phase is extended to a degree that produces uniquely complex coffees.
Benito has surpassed innumerable challenges within the coffee sector over the years, like rising costs, declining prices, and a decreased labor force. Nonetheless, he remains steadfast in his pursuit of making coffee cultivation a viable source of income to support his wife and eight children. Semilla shared with us that Benito feels a deep sense of gratitude towards the consumers in Canada and the United States who enjoy his coffee. For him, it is a dream come true to see his coffee being appreciated in distant countries. He warmly extends an invitation to his international buyers: "Thank you for supporting my coffee. After so many years of cultivation, it is heartening to know that it reaches your tables. I hope one day you can visit my farm and see where it all begins."
The Parainema variety from Benito Sanchez offers a plethora of unique, complex flavors to explore. The acidity is bright and floral, reminiscent of fresh mango. A high sweetness keeps the coffee very balanced, reminding us of butterscotch and cream soda. It’s a shapeshifter, changing from hot to cold and from days off of roast, which makes it a particularly fun coffee to sit with over time. We’re tasting: mango, pineapple, tangerine, lime, candied ginger, dark honey, orange creamsicle, butterscotch, vanilla, black tea.
Relationship
We’ve been sourcing coffees from the Selguapa region of Honduras via Semilla now for 4 consecutive seasons, but this is our first year specifically purchasing from Benito Sanchez.
Our importing partner, Semilla Coffee, shares: We work specifically in a series of hamlets stretched along the peaks of the Montecillos mountain range that crosses La Paz and Comayagua departments, and in these areas, the smallholder growers we buy from have been involved in coffee growing as a principal income source for years if not generations. Regardless of that, their main sales channel has been either with intermediaries who drive their dump trucks into their communities to buy cherries or even worse, they have to undertake the day-long trip of packing their cherries down to the city by mule, hoping to find a buyer who will offer them a decent price.
Many growers have explained to us that the prices they've (and continue to) receive in the conventional model are simply not high enough to generate profits. This is a common refrain heard in Honduras these days, that coffee farming at best can generate enough money to pay the pickers and the input costs but often fails to do even that. The hope with Semilla’s work in all of these communities is that we operate on a baseline of prices that are not only sustainable but highly profitable, such that these coffee growers see their investment in coffee quality as a viable and desirable way to make a living. As always, all of our pricing is decided in open conversation with the growers we work with - seeking to arrive at a consensus decision as opposed to offering a top-down price.
Processing
Cherries are harvested at peak ripeness, de-pulped the same day, and dry fermented for 50 hours. They are then dried in a solar dryer covered with transparent plastic (similar to a greenhouse) for 25 - 30 days. Once the beans are dried, they are stored in sealed plastic bags until milling.
Brewing
If your coffee tastes vegetal, grassy, or sour like underripe fruit, try grinding finer.
If your coffee tastes drying like cacao nibs or roasted nuts, with muted, gritty flavors, try grinding coarser.
