You can still remember the coffee from San Rafael farm from the spring of 2022. It’s always a pleasure to be able to return to the coffees from the same farmers.
Norma Iris Fiallos is the owner of San Rafael Farm located in the northwestern part of Honduras, Los Limos. Norma is one of the most innovative producers in the area. She owns extensive coffee fields with many different types of Arabica. The farm is located in a pine forest which greatly acidifies the soil, giving the coffees unique flavor profiles. The coffee grows in the shade all the time and is thus only found on a fraction of the farmer’s land.
Producers here receive 70% of the price for micro lots right out of the gate.
All the production goes to the Aruco mill where it is collected and they have perfect control over the entire processing. This allows them to process consistently and also reduces the farmer’s risk. The wet mill is located at 800 metres above sea level, which makes the drying process more stable than it would be on farms much higher up.
Once the coffees are brought to the mill, the beans are sorted and separated according to the processing process and the level of processing on the farm itself. The beans are cleaned, rinsed and sorted of all immature and overripe pieces. Our lot of the Paraneima variety was dehulled and then fermented for 72 hours. It was then washed thoroughly once more and stripped of all pulp.
The coffee was then dried on African beds for 20-30 days based on the weather which varies from hour to hour here.
Notes from our baristas:
Filter:
Sweet coffees with a subtle spicy flavour have been in our offer for some time. This is exactly the case with Norma Iris coffee. Although the extended fermentation time does not affect the taste, the grinding needs to be adapted to this and the coffee needs to be ground more finely as we are used to with anaerobic coffees. The total time on the V60 was around 3 minutes. The result is a full-bodied, thick, sweet coffee with notes of star anise and prunes on the body and a finish with hints of cocoa beans and butter. A morning coffee made to last.
Espresso:
We find it best on espresso with a ratio of 1 : 2.35 in a time between 28 and 32 seconds. The result was a full-bodied espresso with dominant notes of cocoa beans and the juiciness of dried fruit. A nice sweet espresso that also pairs beautifully with milk, where the same recipe is dominated by notes of nuts and chocolate.
