Honduras Santa Elena Catracha Dulce Meloso Washed

About the Coffee

Flavor Profile: Raspberry, lime, caramel, nutmeg, milk chocolate
Grower: Simeon Ventura, Isail Hernández, José Antonio Lazo, Francisca Vásquez, and Jose Neptalí Vásquez
Altitude: 1500 - 1750 masl
Variety: Catuai - less than 1 manzanas or 2 acres
Soil: Clay minerals
Region: Aguanqueterique, Casas Quemadas, Los Patios, and Yarasquin communities, Santa Elena municipality, La Paz department, Honduras
Process: Fully washed after pulping and fermenting
Drying method: Raised beds under solar canopy

Sourcing Details

Each year Catracha Coffee makes a community blend to showcase the diversity of the Santa Elena profile and the consistency in processing among the group. Dulce Meloso is this year’s community blend of Catuai selected from Simeon Ventura, Isail Hernandez, Jose Antonio Lazo, Francisca Vasquez, and Jose Nectali Vasquez. Each producer attends monthly workshops to learn farm management practices such as applying lime to control the pH of the soil, fertilizing with organic compost, and spraying organic fungicides to control levels of leaf rust.

Processing Details

They have also learned to process coffee using the same procedures at each individual micro-mill to depulp, ferment and dry coffee before delivering it to Catracha Coffee. After harvesting, selected ripe cherries are macerated overnight and depulped the next day, then fermented in a cement tank for 24 hours, washed and placed on raised beds to dry over a 15 day period.

Social impact

Mayra Orellana-Powell founded Catracha Coffee Company to connect her coffee growing community with roasters. Ten years later, Catracha Coffee has gained momentum with more than 80 producers and 20 roasters working together on sustainable relationships and a profit-sharing model, which has consistently paid at least $2.00 per pound directly to producers. This extra income helps increase each producer’s capacity to reinvest in their farm, and overtime, increase their standard of living. The sale of Catracha Coffee also creates income for a non-profit called Catracha Community (a 501(1)(c)(3) nonprofit), which invests in income diversification opportunities without taking resources from a farmer’s bottomline. Catracha Community hosts workshops for women and youth to learn craft-making skills. Like coffee, the focus is on quality. With the help of talented volunteers, the group has been able to make many beautiful things and sell them through our network of coffee friends. They even have a name for the group, Catracha Colectivo.

Catracha Community has also established an art residence and studio in Santa Elena to host artists from Honduras and around the world. These artists have been running art classes two days a week. Every week more than 30 children come and learn art. Art is now popping up everywhere around Santa Elena. There are more than 30 murals along the streets of Santa Elena, in people’s homes, and at many schools. Catracha Community also funds gardening projects throughout Santa Elena, which includes a seed bank and support from an agronomist who provides technical advice to families starting gardens. Funds from Catracha Community also support a local tree nursery, which produces 50,000 trees each year for Santa Elena’s communities and individuals asking for trees. Funds are also used in coordination with students at the agroforestry high school in Santa Elena to give technical support for tree planting and follow- up cleaning and maintenance.