Honduras El Pino

Virtually inaccessible most of the year due to rainfall and dirt roads, El Pino is tended by producer Nicolas Alvarado and his family without any hired help. Despite the challenging commute, their commitment to high-quality coffee is unwavering.

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.

The latest volume of our original publication, Parchment, takes us to the Santa Bárbara mountain in the company of our exporting partners at Beneficio San Vicente. We invite you to savor this coffee while reading more about this special region in Volume 003.