Honduras Finca La Esmeralda Anaerobic Red Honey Organic
Captain's Gold top 3! This direct trade microlot comes to us from De La Finca’s newest project farm, Finca La Esmeralda, in the Comayagua region of Honduras. This Anaerobic Red Honey lot was hand selected from their caturra and typica harvest specifically for honey processing in order to offer a cup balanced between the intensity of natural and the smooth cleanliness of fully washed. The cup is clean with notes of lemonade, tropical fruit, fresh florals and a cocoa powder undertone.
This coffee comes to us direct trade - straight from one of De La Finca’s family farms, Finca La Esmeralda. If you’ve been with us for a while, you’ve seen several Anaerobic Natural coffees from La Esmeralda which have been among our favorites, but we have yet to feature their other processes. Well we can finally complete the collection with a fresh harvest of red honey and fully washed offerings!
This Anaerobic Red Honey lot was hand selected from their caturra and typica harvest specifically for honey processing in order to offer a cup balanced between the intensity of natural and the smooth cleanliness of fully washed. Thanks to their light touch with the “anaerobic” piece of the puzzle, the cup is still super clean, full bodied and creamy. What the process adds is extra sweetness in the form of juicy tropical fruit. Not as intense as the natural but more pronounced than the fully washed. It’s a great way to add a splash of fun to your daily driver! In our cups we noted lemonade, tropical fruit, fresh picked florals and an undertone of rich cocoa.
Reminder! This coffee is raw, you must roast it before brewing
Arrival Date: August 23rd, 2024. Harvest year: 2024, Packed in GrainPro
Acidity & Brightness: Pleasantly bright and sweet
Balance & Finish: Good balance with a quick, clean finish
Body & Texture: Rich body and creamy texture
Flavors: Lemonade, tropical fruit, fresh florals and cocoa.
Grade: SHG-EP, grown at 1750 masl
Certifications: Direct trade, Organic & Bird friendly
Processing: Anaerobic red cherry - cherries are first fermented in grainpro bags for seven hours, then transferred to fermentation barrels, where they're anaerobically fermented for twelve hours. Then partially depulped and allowed to dry on raised African beds.
Grower: De La Finca Coffee | Finca la Esmeralda
Region: La Sampedrana, Comayagua, Honduras
Varietals: Caturra & Typica
Recommended Roast Range: City to Full City+ (Light to Medium-Dark)
We like this coffee best at City + (light-medium, at the tail end of 1st crack), but it will perform well nearly anywhere in the Light to Medium spectrum. Lighter roasts accent pleasant acidity and fresh florals, while medium roasts will trade a bit of brightness for body as well as bringing out more rounded, sweetness. Take it as dark as the first snaps of 2nd crack to further round out the flavors towards the chocolatey end.
De La Finca Coffee - "La Esmeralda is a new DLF Project Farm in the Comayagua region. We bought this farm in 2021 in order to continue experimental processing in the area. La Sampedrama is an under-promoted area in the Comayagua region with high altitude, volcanic soil, and is rich in culture. We wanted a farm in the area where we could have more control over the quality and consistency on larger experimental specialty lots including varietals like geisha, pink bourbon, parainema which we've planted and will be coming in the next few years.”
