HONDURAS HUMBERTO | February 2024
Our February Bean of the Month Honduras Humberto is an exciting one for us here at Merlo HQ. We rarely get Lempira or Ihcafe 90 coffee varietals across our cupping table, and we’re thrilled to be able to share these new coffees with you.
Lucio Humberto is a busy man. At the age of 41, this Honduran coffee producer has two coffee farms, a young family, a dozen seasonal employees, and a coffee processing mill. It wasn’t always this way. Lucio’s coffee story started in his backyard with a few trees carefully planted and picked, the cherries sold whole.
Lucio Humberto still lives in that house he built at the start of his coffee journey, but the coffee is planted in rows now, on the La Valentina and La Caoba farms. Lucio's passion for quality led him to delve into the intricacies of coffee processing. Now, he oversees the entire life cycle of his coffee, from planting to sorting dried beans.
The result? Our February Bean of the Month - a sweet and full-bodied coffee with flavours of green grapes, sultanas, and dark chocolate. It's pretty and bright to the nose, with gorgeous floral aromatics of rose and coffee blossom mingling with sweet honeycomb as we grind the beans.
COFFEE ORIGIN PROFILE
Country: Honduras, Central America
Region: Intibuca
Farm: El Caoba
Varietals: Lempira & Ihcafe 90
Process: washed
Altitude: 1170m above sea level.
Lucio Humberto tends to his coffee throughout the coffee production cycle, from planting, pruning, harvesting through to processing his own coffees for sale.
The washing takes place on site, and Lucio has created a circular system for sustainability: coffee pulp from the cherries is recycled into compost for the bases of the trees, and water is treated for reuse in irrigation. This light touch on the land shows in the diversity of life on his farms: oak, pine, mango and guava trees grow throughout and provide homes to squirrels, hooded orioles, grackles and bushy crested jays.
TASTING NOTES
Honduras Humberto is a sweet and full-bodied coffee with flavours of green grapes, sultanas, and dark chocolate. It's pretty and bright to the nose, with gorgeous floral aromatics of rose and coffee blossom mingling with sweet honeycomb.
There's a little zestiness in the cup, with a light lime acidity softened by a honeydew melon note. The lime lingers, brightening the finish and enhancing the dark chocolate flavour which rounds out the coffee.
BREW RECOMMENDATIONS
For filter brewing at home, start with an 18:1 ratio of water to coffee. Honduras Humberto is lovely as a pourover, but we found that a slightly lower dose coaxed out those delicate florals and light fruit. It’s almost a red apple flavour, crisp and sweet.
Grape and sultana notes make this a terrific iced coffee, whether with milk or without, and the dark chocolate base note is always a winner when you put it through an espresso machine. If you’re a bit shy of acidity, cut your shot a little short and try a double ristretto for all the sweetness with less of the zing.
As always, the Honduras Humberto is online or in Merlo Coffee stores, but only until the 29th February or until sold out.
COFFEE CUPPING PROFILE
SCORE: 85 /100
FLAVOUR: apricot, milk chocolate and cherry
AROMA: orange, pear, honey
ACIDITY: medium to high, sparkling
BODY: medium
AFTERTASTE: toffee apple.