De La Finca Marcala: Organic Honey Anaerobic

Country: Honduras

Region: La Paz

Farm: De La Finca Marcala Farm Project

Process: Experimental Red Honey Anaerobic

Variety: Yellow and Red Catuai

Harvest: December - March

Altitude: 1450 metres

Raisinet, green apple, sweet lemon and brown sugar

Reminiscent of Raisinet candy, this Honduran coffee from De La Finca Coffee's Marcala Farm Project gives us brown sugar sweetness, with subtle wine notes hinting towards the anaerobic processing. A top note of succulent green apple provides a balanced malic acidity for a clear, bright and well-rounded cup.

Honey processed coffees combine the best flavor attributes from a washed coffee and a natural coffee into one: fresh coffee cherries are de-pulped, but allowed to dry without washing, utilizing less water. Some of the fruit remains, but not nearly as much as in the natural process. With most of the cherry gone, the remaining golden mucilage is reminiscent of honey, hence the name. Because the amount of mucilage left before drying can vary by producer, terminology was developed to describe honey processed coffees by their drying color: white, yellow, red, or black. Coffees with less mucilage removed during the depulping phase tend to dry more slowly and are darker in color while coffees with more mucilage removed at depulping dry faster and are lighter in color. Honey processed coffees tend to be more complex than washed coffees and less fruit-forward than naturals. The anaerobic process provides a high level of control of the sugars, temperature, pressure, pH and time. The sweet and fruity juices from the mucilage are pushed into the parchment during fermentation, yielding exciting and unexpected flavors.

We were introduced to this coffee by our friends at De La Finca Coffee Importers - a direct-trade coffee importer founded by fifth-generation coffee farmer, Nelson Raul Amador. Nelson started De La Finca with the goal of eliminating the middlemen between producers and consumers;

“Instead of seeing coffee pass through as many as 6-8 hands between farmers and consumers (as is usual in the coffee industry), I make genuine, direct connections between coffee roasters, consumers, and coffee producers, like my family.”

- Nelson Raul Amador, Founder of De La Finca Coffee Importers

 

 

 

 

In the fall of 2019, De La Finca purchased a 9-acre property in Marcala, La Paz (the specialty coffee hub of their home country of Honduras) as an experimental specialty farm. While their family's farms are mainly located three hours away in the Comayagua region, De La Finca's property in Marcala allows for research and experimentation with various coffee production and processing methods without interfering with production on their family's farms.

As they grow, De La Finca intends to use the Marcala, La Paz property as an example farm, implementing and teaching best industry practices. By training other producers in what they're learning in terms of production and operations, and offering workers higher wages and year-round employment, De La Finca is leading by example to positively impact and transform the specialty coffee industry in Honduras.

 

Educate2Envision

 

As part of our ongoing partnership with Educate2Envision - a nonprofit organization promoting education in rural Honduras - a portion of all profits from the sale of this coffee will be donated to E2E. These funds are used to build secondary schools in coffee producing communities, and well as to provide youth scholarships in these areas. 
 
Educate2Envision also works to tackle issues such as senior care, disease prevention and dismantling unhealthy gender norms through their initiatives on the ground in rural Honduras; to date the organization has built over 11 secondary schools and provided over 500 youth scholarships in communities where the help is needed most. We're grateful to be in partnership with E2E - click on their logo about to learn more about their impacts and how you can get involved!