Lucinda Vásquez Honduras Santa Elena Washed
We are ecstatic to announce our newest coffee release and producer partner and extraordinaire, Lucinda Vásquez!
Our relationship sparked from Catracha Coffee Co. a non profit started by Mayra Orellana-Powell in her home community of La Paz, Santa Elena, Honduras. Catracha looks to recognize the efforts of small producers through traceable single farm micro-lots and transparent individualized profit sharing determined by the quality of each producer’s coffee. Go to their website https://www.catrachacoffee.com to find out more!
Our release from Lucinda's farm is a fully washed processed bean. This light-medium roast has flavor notes of chocolate buttercream, and pear with a perfectly balanced and juicy body. It is from the same area as our previous Catracha partnership with producer Hector Ventura except grown at a higher altitude giving it a bit more complexity as a light-medium roast. It is as well as similar to our previous Costa Rica Cloza Estate. This bag will be $26 mostly to pay Lucinda properly for his delicious coffee, but the last dollar on every bag will be a "Third Payment" for Lucinda and other producers in Santa Elena. Typically, Catracha pays farmers twice for their coffee. First when the dried coffee parchment is delivered and second when the coffee has been sold in the specialty coffee market (part of their profit sharing initiative). The Third Payment will be split three ways. One part goes straight back to Lucinda, one part would be used to increase the wages of coffee pickers, and the third part would be used to create an emergency medical care response fund to help producers who are dealing with unexpected expenses from a medical emergency.
Lucinda produces coffee on her 8 acre farm called La Esperanza in the community of Guasore. Lucinda has managed the farm on her own since her husband passed away. She immediately made a name for herself in 2014 when she became the first woman in Honduras to ever place First in the Cup of Excellence. For the last several years, Lucinda has been working with Catracha Coffee. During this time she has improved her farm management practices using lime to control the pH of the soil, fertilizing with organic compost, and spraying organic fungicides to control levels of leaf rust. These actions have improved the health of her farm and the quality of her coffee production. Lucinda processes her coffee using her own micro-mill to depulp, ferment, wash and dry her coffee before delivering it to Catracha Coffee.
Region: Tapuiman, Santa Elena, La Paz, Honduras
Altitude: 1600 masl
Process: Fully washed and dried on patios and elevated tables inside solar dryers that provide protection from the rain
Variety: Catuai - 6000 plants – 6-8 years old
Harvest: January-March
Soil: Clay minerals