FLAVOR PROFILE 

As a medium-light roast, this coffee is sweet, floral, and jammy.  Using a scale of 0-10, the cup profile has a higher level of sweetness (8), moderate acidity (5), a medium to heavier body (5-7), and no bitterness.  

As a medium-dark roast, this coffee surprisingly retains a lot of the characteristics it has as a lighter roast.  The coffee remains sweet, floral, and jammy but these notes are more subdued.  Using a scale of 0-10, the cup profile has moderate sweetness (6-7), lower acidity (3), a heavier body (7-8), and little to no bitterness (0-1).  

RECOMMENDED BREWING METHODS

As a medium-light roast, this coffee is versatile and is great brewed as filter/drip, immersion, cold brew, but is not one we prefer as espresso.  As a lighter roasted coffee, we recommend starting with a water temperature no lower than 200F as lighter roasts are more prone to under extraction.  If the coffee tastes sour, 1) grind finer, 2) gradually increase the water temperature, and/or decrease the amount of ground coffee or water used to increase the extraction.  If the coffee tastes bitter and over extracted, 1) coarsen up the grind size, 2) gradually decrease the water temperature, and/or 3) increase the amount of ground coffee or decrease the amount of water used.  For filter/drip and immersion, we recommend starting with a brewing ratio of 1:15 (e.g., 20 grams of coffee to 300 grams of water), but this again is an area you will adjust for taste preferences.  For espresso, we would recommend using a higher water temperature (e.g., 203F) if your machine allows and starting with a 1:3 ratio (e.g., 18 grams of coffee to 54 grams of coffee in the cup), but incrementally try longer ratios of 1:4 and 1:5, etc. until you find the balance of flavors you prefer.  The longer ratio will allow the coffee to properly extract and reduce any unwanted sourness, but will come at the cost of reduced body, which is the reason we do not prefer it as espresso.

As a medium-dark roast, this coffee is versatile and is great brewed as filter/drip, immersion, cold brew, but is not one we prefer as espresso.  As a darker roasted coffee, we recommend starting with a water temperature of 197-201F as darker roasts are more prone to over extraction.  If the coffee tastes bitter and over extracted, 1) coarsen up the grind size, 2) gradually decrease the water temperature, and/or 3) increase the amount of ground coffee or decrease the amount of water used.  For filter/drip and immersion, we recommend starting with a brewing ratio of 1:15 (e.g., 20 grams of coffee to 300 grams of water), but this again is an area you will adjust for taste preferences.  For espresso, we found this coffee to be remarkably bright (acidic) at a 1:2 ration and would recommend starting with a 1:25 ratio but experimenting with a slightly larger ratios (1:3).   The longer ratio will allow the coffee to properly extract and reduce any unwanted sourness, but will come at the cost of reduced body, which is the reason we do not prefer it as espresso.

ABOUT THIS COFFEE 

This coffee is a blend from three farms who are all part of the Pacayal Coffee Cooperative: La Florencia, El Limón and Agua Escondida.

Producers: Isaura Martínez, Fidencia Gonzales and Valeria Martínez 

Country: Honduras 

Continent: North America

Region: Upper area of the municipalities of Chinacla and Opatoro, La Paz

Varietals: Typica

Process: Natural 

Altitude/elevation: 1400-1700 MASL

Green Coffee Certifications: Fairtrade, USDA Organic

Harvest Period: December 2021 to March 2022

Transparency

Want to learn more about this coffee and the producers who make it possible?  Want to learn more about the prices we paid for this coffee?  We paid $6.99 per pound for the green coffee.  Our goal is to create more transparency about our purchasing decisions so that you can make as informed a buying decision as possible.  Click on the following link from the importer we purchase this coffee from, Sustainable Harvest, to learn more about this coffee and the producers who make it possible:  

https://www.sustainableharvest.com/pacayal-coffees