An Interview with a Rising Star in Honduran Specialty Coffee

Raised into a family of coffee growers, Yasmin Blandin is one to watch in the world of specialty coffee in Honduras. Working currently as a professional cupper and roaster at Cafetano in the capital city of Tegucigalpa, Yasmin shares her thoughts on the state of coffee in her country.

Adelante Coffee
Aug 28, 2017 · 4 min read

How do you see the future of Honduran coffee?

Yasmin: Very promising. Honduras is a small country by size but plentiful when it comes to its fertile lands and even more generous with its crops. Coffee is like a national identity for us. There are more than 110,000 families who work as coffee producers and these families employee over 1 million seasonal workers. Now more and more you’re seeing these producers place a greater emphasis on quality. In recent years we have seen the possibilities to continue improving when new technologies are implemented in coffee farms and applied to processing techniques.

What are some of the main threats or obstacles you find?

Yasmin: The threats are subject to change each day. The common plagues are quick to spread and each time it occurs it becomes harder to control than the last time.

Due to climate change, the coffee plantations suffer from such things as; hydrological stress, premature blooming and frequent issues with the actual development of the coffee fruit.

The lack of training of some producers or those in charge of collecting coffee cherries, wet processing, dry processing, among others. In addition, these producers often are without the necessary tools to improve their processes.

In many of the coffee communities, access to transporting their coffee is incredibly complicated due to the totally critical state of roads in these areas. This makes it very difficult to transport coffee to market.

Why should consumers value Honduran coffee or consider it to be among the top specialty flavors?

Yasmin: Honduras is positioned as one of the largest producers of coffee in the world — occupying the first place spot in Central America, third in Latin America and fifth in the world. Its location and lands are ideal for coffee production. And we’re not only talking about sheer volume, since in recent years the production of specialty coffee in Honduras has been strongly growing. In the 2015–2016 harvest, Honduras earned the most expensive electronic auction price for coffee in the history of any country. In the 2016–2017 harvest, the winner of the Cup of Excellence award was Oscar Daniel Ramirez, a producer from El Paraiso. He earned a score of 91.8 for his yield and his coffee was sold for USD $124.50/lb, setting a record in Honduras.

Honduras has 6 distinct regions of coffee production of which you can find a vast diversity of different cup profiles. The altitudes are different, as well as the microclimates, varieties of plantes, and processes that are used to develop different coffee characteristics.

Honduran coffees are demonstrating that they really have a lot to offer. The experts have recognized this fact and consumers are becoming more and more enamored by these exquisite coffees that are processed by the hands of people who work with great passion and enthusiasm with the end goal being to bring to the world the best of Honduras.

How would you describe the taste of Honduran coffee?

Yasmin: I would say that the coffee produced in Honduras has the ability to easily enchant any type of coffee drinker. Each one of the 6 producing regions can leave us impressed with only a single sip.

To better explain this, I will give a description of each of the 6 regions:

COPÁN: We can find very sweet coffees here with notes marked by chocolate, caramel, and citrus. The body tends to be strong and creamy with a lingering and balanced after taste and delicate acidity.

OPALACA: In this region, you can find a great complexity of flavors: tropical fruits, grapes, berries; a refined delicate acidity and a balanced aftertaste.

MONTECILLOS: In this region you can enjoy coffee with a citrus flavor including melon, apricot, and caramel; a smooth body and an intense tartaric acidity.

COMAYAGUA: In a cup of coffee from the Comayagua region, you can expect a sweet fragrance, mixed citrus with an intense level of acidity, and a rich creamy body.

EL PARAÍSO: El Paraiso has profiles of a sweet citrus cup with a smooth body, refined acidity, and a prolonged aftertaste.

AGALTA: The coffee from this region offers a diverse flavor offering of tropical fruits, a caramel and chocolate fragrance, a delicate yet pronounced acidity, and a sweet aftertaste.

What can the coffee community do to create a more equitable supply chain and/or ensure that coffee producers are earning a livable wage?

It is something that happens quite often — the coffee harvest will come and go and in the end those who are receiving the least compensation are the producers. In my opinion, it is the producers who ultimately invest the most; in their farms, their manual labor, and their time. I should say that the main problem here is largely owed to the middlemen that exist in the supply chain. We’re talking about up to 7 different people the coffee is passed through for it to arrive to the roasters and each one of those people always keep a good percentage for themselves.

What I would advise would be to invest in forming cooperatives and/or community-run banks that can help move the sale of coffee towards a more direct trade. This would eliminate the chances that the coffee will pass through several middlemen and the producers could earn higher prices so they themselves can invest in improving their farms and be given a better support system.

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Adelante Coffee

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We’re a Bay Area-based impact-driven coffee company funding education in Honduras.

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