What sets Honduran arabica coffee varieties apart?

Honduras grows only arabica coffee, and its main varieties include Bourbon, Caturra, Catuai, Pacas, Lempira, IHCAFE90, H1, and H3. Four of those get the focus here: Pacas, a natural Bourbon mutation found in El Salvador in 1949; Lempira; IHCAFE90; and H3. Coffee accounts for roughly 30 percent of Honduras's total export value.

The National Coffee Institute, founded in 1970, promotes the crop, and Pacas reached Honduras in 1974, mostly in the Montecillos region. Arabica coffee is the world's most commonly cultivated coffee species, and Honduras is the second-largest arabica producer globally. A Honduras sherry barrel-processed lot combines Caturra, Catuai, and Pacas with a distinct flavor profile.

Honduras, as a major global Arabica coffee-producing country, has its coffee industry heavily promoted by the National Coffee Institute (IHCAFE). The varieties cultivated within its borders are diverse, including Bourbon, Caturra, Catuai, Pacas, Lempira, IHCAFE90, H1, and H3. This article will focus on four varieties: Pacas, Lempira, IHCAFE90, and H3, outlining their origins, genetic backgrounds, cultivation characteristics, and current challenges. Additionally, it mentions the Honduras Sherry barrel-processed beans used by Front Street Coffee, sharing their varietal composition and flavor profile.

Coffee beans grow and evolve differently around the world, after all, many different factors such as local humidity, rainfall, sunlight, altitude, and soil characteristics all affect coffee cultivation's yield and quality. Therefore, different regions and countries have their unique coffee varieties.

Today, Honduras has become one of the world's top ten coffee-producing countries and the second-largest Arabica producer globally. Coffee is extremely important to Honduras's economy, accounting for about 30% of total export value. Moreover, Honduras established the National Coffee Institute (IHCAFE) in 1970 to help develop the country's coffee industry. Currently, Honduras only cultivates Arabica varieties, specifically Bourbon, Caturra, Catuai, Pacas, Lempira, IHCAFE90, H1, and H3. Some bean varieties have been introduced earlier, so this time we will introduce the other coffee varieties.

Pacas

The Pacas variety is a natural mutation of Bourbon. Due to a single gene mutation, the plant becomes smaller. Its smaller size allows it to be planted closely together with other plants. The Pacas variety was first discovered in 1949 on a farm owned by the Pacas family in the Santa Ana region of El Salvador (hence the name Pacas). In 1960, the Salvadoran Coffee Research Institute (ISIC) started a lineage selection program for Pacas (selecting individual plants over several generations). Currently, this variety is still widely cultivated in El Salvador, accounting for 25% of the country's coffee production. It was later introduced to Honduras in 1974 by the Honduran Coffee Institute (IHCAFE), mainly cultivated in the Montecillos region of Honduras. The Honduras Sherry barrel-processed coffee beans used by Front Street Coffee include Caturra, Catuai, and Pacas varieties. When brewed with a V60 at a 1:15 ratio, this coffee offers flavors of vanilla, cream, whiskey, and berries, with a finish of dark chocolate and maple syrup-like sweetness.

Pacas Lempira

The Lempira variety belongs to a subspecies of Catimor, which is a hybrid of the Timor variety and Caturra, producing the first generation F1 hybrid group known as Catimor. Due to its high yield, disease resistance, and adaptability to low-altitude warm climates, it quickly spread in coffee plantations across the Americas. Starting in the late 1980s, coffee laboratories in various countries began developing their own Catimor subspecies. Lempira is a Catimor subspecies developed by the Honduran Coffee Institute. However, recently, scientific evaluations have confirmed that Lempira is susceptible to coffee leaf rust and the fungal disease OJO DE GALLO in Honduras. It is currently only recommended for cultivation in acidic or aluminum-rich soils and warm areas.

Lempira IHCAFE90

IHCAFE90 is also a subspecies of Catimor. It was first introduced by the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE) in Costa Rica, using Portuguese H26 material to cultivate an F5 generation, which was selected and named T5175. Honduras also introduced and developed IHCAFE90 through research, making it similar to T5175. However, recent science has confirmed that it is also affected by leaf rust and the fungal disease OJO DE GALLO in Central America.

IHCAFE90 H3

H3 belongs to the first generation (F1) hybrids, originating from a cross between Caturra and an Ethiopian landrace (E531) collected in Costa Rica. This variety is part of a breeding program jointly developed by the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD), the Central American Coffee Research Institutes Alliance (Promecafe), and Costa Rica's coffee gene bank (Catie). However, H3 shows some susceptibility to leaf rust, but has higher quality. Because traditional American varieties are severely genetically limited, breeders in Central America strive to cultivate F1 hybrids to increase genetic diversity in the region. This variety is an F1 lineage selection by the Honduran Coffee Institute (IHCAFE).

H3

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.