Dear coffee subscriber,
This month I have selected 3 different coffees produced by the same farmer, Jobneel Caceres Dios, in Honduras. Jobneel was the first farmer we started to work with in order to improve his coffee quality and we started buying from him directly in 2009. Since then we have changed a lot of his practices on his farm and the coffees have gradually improved in quality year after year. If you subscribe to 2 or 3 bags you will be able to taste the difference between 3 different cultivars of coffee grown in more or less the same place. You can also experience the difference in flavour intensity in the Pacas grown at slightly lower altitude compared to the Ihcafe 90 crown at very high altitude in this area.
I hope you will enjoy these coffees and highly recommend cupping them or tasting them side by side if you have the chance to do so.
Nacimiento Pacas (1st & 4th bag)
Flavour notes
Red berries, chocolate & stone fruits
Producer
Jobneel Caceres Dios
Harvest
January 2023
Origin
El Cielito, Santa Barbara, Honduras
Process
Washed
Cultivar
Pacas
For a long time we have asked Jobneel to separate his coffees by cultivar and harvest date. As a result we have not only gotten coffees with different flavour profiles due to the variations in cultivars but we have also noticed that the flavour intensity tend to increase from the start of the harvest in January/February towards the end of the harvest in June. This is most likely due to the later pickings are harvested from the higher altitudes on the farm.
Unlike the 2022 harvest which was of slightly lower than average in quality, the 2023 harvest was not only larger but also much better in terms of quality. This particular lot is from the first pickings from the 2023 harvest and comes mainly from the lower part of the farm at around 1500-1600 meters above sea level. The coffee has subtle fruity notes with a little herbal and chocolaty finish. Normally when I taste these coffees together with the exporters we work with in Santa Barbara, they describe the flavours of these coffees with words like mango and orange, etc. I personally think of red berries and chocolate but that is just because we have different cultural backgrounds and references when it comes to food and flavours.
Finca Bertha Pacamara (2nd & 5th bag)
Flavour notes
Dark chocolate & herbal
Producer
Jobneel Caceres Dios
Harvest
March 2023
Origin
El Sauce, Santa Barbara, Honduras
Process
Washed
Cultivar
Pacamara
This is the third harvest from Jobneel’s new farm named after his mom Bertha, in El Sauce, not far away from Nacimiento. He planted Pacamara there a few years ago and the coffee has gradually been improving year after year.
Last year he harvested 570 kilos so this lot is more or less exclusive for our subscribers. The Pacamara is a tricky cultivar that is very sensitive to its growing conditions when it comes to quality. This particular Pacamara is quite subtle in flavour intensity compared to the Pacamaras that we buy from Diego at Los Pirineos in El Salvador. But it does not mean it is not a good coffee.
What I appreciate the most with this Pacamara is its intense dark chocolate flavour and bittersweet lingering finish. An uncomplicated coffee where sweetness and texture is more the focus.
Cielito Lindo (3rd & 6th bag)
Flavour notes
Winey, forest berries & herbal
Producer
Jobneel Caceres Dios
Harvest
February 2023
Origin
El Cielito, Santa Barbara, Honduras
Process
Washed
Cultivar
Ihcafe 90
Cielito Lindo is a small parcel of land owned by Extreberto Caceres Gutierrez, which is the father of Jobneel Caceres Dios, the owner of Finca Nacimiento.
Both farms are situated at the top of the El Cielito branch of the Santa Barbara mountain in Honduras where Cielito Lindo is at the very top of the mountain just below a forest reserve. The high altitude and moist, cool climate makes this one of the most unique areas for growing coffees in Honduras. As Cielito Lindo is situated at the very top of this mountain it has become hard for Extreberto to take care of his own farm as he is now well above 80 years old. The only way to enter the farm is by walking up extremely steep trails and the only way to get the coffee down is by using donkeys to carry the bags of coffee down the hills. For this reason Jobneel is now taking care of the hard work on the farm while Extreberto is helping out with other tasks like drying and sorting the coffees.
You might not know that we actually bought coffee from Extreberto way back in 2008 at the Cup of Excellence. I really loved his fruity coffee and was shocked when I found out that it came from a Catimor cultivar, the Ihcafe 90. I liked the coffee so much that I decided to visit the farm in 2009 to see if we could start buying directly from Extreberto. The intention was to visit Extreberto but I was met by his son Jobneel instead and that was the start of a long relationship and the work we have done together over the last decade (read more about that here).
We normally don’t get our hands on the coffee from Cielito Lindo for two reasons. Extreberto likes to submit his coffee to the Cup of Excellence which has resulted in many good placements in the competition and also great prices. The coffee is normally harvested really late in the year due to the high altitude and slow ripening and we normally have shipped our coffees from Nacimiento by the time the coffees from Cielito Lindo are dried and ready for export. Due to a slight change in harvest cycles we managed to buy a few lots from Cielito Lindo in the last two years and are really happy to be able to roast and offer this unique coffee once again.