Honduras El Guaco

A rich and balanced coffee with notes of stone fruit, dark chocolate & berries

Producer: Arturo Angel Paz
District: Santa Barbara, Honduras
Variety: Pacas
Processing: Washed

In 2006, the first Cup of Excellence competition was held in Honduras, and our founder Robert was among the judges. To the surprise of most, almost all winners came from the then relatively unknown coffee region of Santa Barbara, and a young Miguel Moreno stepped onto the stage in the spotlight to receive first prize. Not because he had won, he was a neighbor of the actual first-place winner and simply accepted on his behalf. It turned out that both Miguel and several other farm neighbors from the nearby villages of El Cedral, El Cielito, and Las Flores had also won in the competition. We were obviously interested and went straight after the competition to visit the area. There we met one of the main figures behind the specialty coffee revolution in Honduras, Fidel Paz. Since the early 80s, Fidel had run the export company and processing station San Vicente. They worked with all the coffee farmers in the area and exported all the coffee. We have been working closely with San Vicente ever since.

Also working for San Vicente were Don Fidel's eldest son Fidel Paz and his nephew Arturo Paz. On the football field right next to the beneficio, we also met Don Fidel's youngest son, Benjamin Paz. These three now run San Vicente.

This lot is from one of Arturo Paz's six coffee farms, El Guaco. The farm is named after the childhood horse Arturo received from his uncle. The horse was originally named "El Guapo," but after an ear injury, it was nicknamed "El Guaco" – a name that later simply stuck.

Arturo is a trained agronomist and a very skilled cupper. Through his work at San Vicente, he was one of the pioneers behind the system of separating daily lots into individual microlots. He recently completed his own processing station at El Guaco, which gives him full control over the coffee's quality.

He is passionate about nature conservation and works to connect his protected areas with the nearby national park to preserve biodiversity. Arturo is uncompromising on taste; he only grows coffee varieties he loves to drink himself and only produces coffee he can proudly share with others.