Honduras Map

Honduras coffee is grown throughout the mountainous region of the country's interior

~Jacob

A general background of Honduras from the CIA world factbook...

Background
Once part of Spain's vast empire in the New World, Honduras became an independent nation in 1821. After two and a half decades of mostly military rule, a freely elected civilian government came to power in 1982. During the 1980s, Honduras proved a haven for anti-Sandinista contras fighting the Marxist Nicaraguan Government and an ally to Salvadoran Government forces fighting leftist guerrillas. The country was devastated by Hurricane Mitch in 1998, which killed about 5,600 people and caused approximately $2 billion in damage.

Area
112,090 sq km - slightly larger than Tennessee

Population
7,639,327

Economy Overview
Honduras, the second poorest country in Central America, has an extraordinarily unequal distribution of income and high unemployment. The economy relies heavily on a narrow range of exports, notably bananas and coffee, making it vulnerable to natural disasters and shifts in commodity prices; however, investments in the maquila and non-traditional export sectors are slowly diversifying the economy. Economic growth remains dependent on the US economy its largest trading partner, and will decline in 2009 as a result of reduction in export demand and tightening global credit markets. Remittances represent over a quarter of GDP or nearly three-quarters of exports. The US-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) came into force in 2006 and has helped foster investment. Despite improvements in tax collections, the government's fiscal deficit is growing due to increases in current expenditures and financial losses from the state energy and telephone companies.

Climate
subtropical in lowlands, temperate in mountains

Terrain
mostly mountains in interior, narrow coastal plains

Ethnic Groups
mestizo (mixed Amerindian and European) 90%, Amerindian 7%, black 2%, white 1%

Religions
Roman Catholic 97%, Protestant 3%

~Jacob

Honduras Economic Factiods

Economy of Honduras is the measure of economic activity in Honduras. It is one of the poorest countries in Latin America. The economy is based mostly on agriculture, which accounted for 22% of its gross domestic product (GDP) in 1999. Leading export coffee ($340 million) accounted for 22% of total Honduran export revenues. Bananas, formerly the country's second-largest export until being virtually wiped out by 1998's Hurricane Katrina, recovered in 2000 to 57% of pre-Mitch levels. Cultivated shrimp are another important export sector.
~Wikipedia

Coffee from Honduras is becoming more and more popular in Japan.
Except for Nicaragua, Honduras is the largest of the Central American republics, but it is also the least populated - smaller even than San Salvador, which is less than one-fifth of its side. Besides a narrow coastal strip along the Pacific, Honduras is primarily mountainous, with a volcanic ash plateau and basins between 900 to 1,400 meters high.
As one of the poorest countries in the Western hemisphere and the most indigent in Central America, Honduras needs all the help it can get.

~Encyclopedia

Coffee from Honduras is wet processed, typically unremarkable in quality, and is a good base for blending. Since few Honduras coffee beans reach America, you will probably not have the opportunity to compare this coffee with other Central American coffees.
Caturra, Typica, and Bourbon cultivars can be found in Honduras, and classification is by altitude from "Central Standard" to "High Grown" to "Strictly High Grown."

~2006 coffeesearch.org

Honduran coffee has been absent from the top ranks of the Specialty market, but that is all changing. It has all the environmental factors on its side: soil, altitude, climate. All it's neighbors have sophisticated coffee production: Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua. But what is lacking is infrastructure, good coffee processing and transporting, capital and a distinct "name" in the consumer market. This means that even a good quality Honduran does not fetch a good price (and in fact many from Copan and Santa Barbara districts are smuggled into Guatemala and sold as such). Without a premium price for quality, the incentive for the farmer, the mill and the exporter have no incentive to incur the added expense that would realize the coffee's potential. So Honduran coffee ends up as a good mild blender, and not as a single-origin or farm-specific coffee. It is, clearly, a vicious cycle.

~SweetMaria's.com

~Evan

Want some "P"s with that?

Different Coffee Bean stages! Aaron and Mane' with the taste chart.

This dude knows his stuff! The beans and the brewers of the world....




WE LOOOOOVE LEARNING!!!!

We recently had a presentation by Artisan Coffee which answered our pertinent questions. We thought it to be very interersting, especially the revelation that caffeine looks like crap; a blob of nasty gray ooze. We also learned that the Japanses guys are all like "Uhhhhngh! Let us make coffee a ritual!" And yeah.

Thanks guys! (Mane' and Aaron)

~Evan

Green Mountain Answers

So, we had to ask questions, right? Here they are!!! (No one is gonna read this, are they?)

1. Q: Aprox. what percentage of the coffee that you (Green Mountain Coffee Roasters) buy comes from Honduras? How is it sold?
A: 3%, and is only used in blends.

2. Q: Aprox. what percentage of the coffee you sell is Fair Trade?
A: 27%.

3. Q:Which flavor/blend is your most popular?
A: Many are popular, but in particular are the Vermont Country and Breakfast blends. The K-cup styles for Keurig machines are also very popular.

4. Q: Where and when was the company founded?
A: in 1981 as a small cafe' in rural Vermont, but the company is now based in Waterbury, VT.

5: Q: How is GMCR faring in this tough economical era?
A: Very well, we have expanded to many new areas and production rates along with profits are rising.

VERY EYE OPENING!!!

Honduran Coffee on the Rise...

As suggested below, Honduras may not have the most bustling coffee industry in the world, nor produce the best quality beans, but production is surely on the rise...In the 2006/07 export cycle, Honduras coffee exports were up nearly 10% from the previous year, as the country exported 3.22 million bags of coffee in that 12 month period. This made Honduras the second biggest coffee grower in Central America. Honduras plans to continue ramping up production in future years by increasing yields through farm care and increased fertilization.

As for the quality issue, gains are also being made, and some 100% Honduran coffee blends are beginning to appear, such as Cafe Welchez Gourmet Coffee, and they insist that their coffee is some of the finest in the world

~Jacob

Honduras coffee...a struggling industry

The coffee industry in Honduras, despite the quotes in the post below this, is still struggling to gain a foothold in the worldwide coffee trade. Only growing Arabica beans, their crop is thusly low grade and used primarily in blends. Green Mountain Coffee (who we will have interesting answers from on Wednesday) only buys a mere 3% of their coffee from Honduras. Although the odds are against them, the Hondurans have been hard at work trying to exploit their amazingly ideal coffee growing conditions which include climate, altitude, and other such conditions. They are trying to make coffee as important to their economy as bananas. Even though relatively low grade, their coffee is still good enough to stand on its own for most tastes. Honduras coffee is not unused though, it is extensively used in blends, it is just not used as an exclusive flavor.

~Evan