Honduras El Guaco

Arturo Paz is a Honduras Cup of Excellence–winning producer and the nephew of Fidel Paz Sabillón, who owns Beneficio San Vicente, our trusted exporter in the Santa Bárbara region. Inspired by the two generations of coffee farmers before him, Arturo set out to produce coffee worthy of the premiums he saw other growers receive when they delivered high-quality microlots to the mill. Arturo served as president of SCA Honduras for four years, and has worked on innumerable community improvement projects, from road infrastructure to sustainability initiatives.

We’ve long loved Santa Bárbara coffees for their fruit-forward flavor profile, a pleasantly jarring experience compared to the mild, milk-chocolatey taste of most Central American offerings. The finest Santa Bárbara coffees are dense on the tongue, with saturated sugars, jammy textural tones, and tropical-fruit acidity. They’re for adventurous palates, though they provide structured sweetness anyone can appreciate.

Honoring this region, its producers, and the fruits of their labor by enjoying these coffees can support a community that’s faced many challenges, past and present. Among other things, Honduras struggles with overwhelming outmigration, frequent hurricanes, and a rapidly changing climate. But these coffees reflect the virtues of persistence and vision under difficult circumstances.

We celebrate Arturo and four other exceptional Santa Bárbara producers with the release of our latest issue of Parchment. We hope you’ll enjoy Volume 003, and these coffees, in good company.