Honduras San Andres

TASTING NOTES: Black Cherry, Plum, Toffee
PROCESS: Washed
VARIETAL: Catuai, IHCAFE 90, Lempira

The San Andres group is an initiative organised by San Vincente and comprises 9 different smallholder producers in the municipality of San Andres, Lempira. The main objective of this initiative is to promote high-quality coffee and to assist them in finding better markets for their produce.

This group comes from the mountainous region of San Andres Lempira, which is situated at an altitude of 1600-1850 masl. These mountains have great significance as one of the indigenous leaders, Lempira, fought significant battles against Spanish conquerors in this region to defend their territory.

This region is relatively new to coffee production. Coffee cultivation started in the 1990s, following the example of more experienced producers in other Lempari and Copan communities. Over time, it has become more popular due to its profitability. Initially, Typica and Catuai varieties were the most planted until in 2011, the coffee disease Roja devastated many coffee plantations. The National Coffee Institute started recommending using disease-resistant Catimors, such as Lempira and IH90 as alternatives. As a result, it is now common for producers to mix Catimors and Catuai. Nonetheless, producers still value the Catuai variety as their most important one.