Honduras La Colmena

Benjamin Paz and his cousin David Muñoz purchased La Colmena from Arturo Paz in 2021. Alongside his father, Fidel Paz Sabillón, Ben manages the relationships between roasters and coffee producers on the Santa Bárbara mountain. Just as importantly, he’s a renowned farmer himself and the winner of the 2022 Honduras Cup of Excellence. Ben also owns a café and micro-roastery in Peña Blanca. He is a model for all coffee professionals who aspire to build and support a more sustainable, equitable industry.

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.