Santa Barbara is a region in Honduras known for producing the most exotic and mind-bending Honduras coffees. The reason for this is twofold, 1) terroir and 2) market access.

The terroir here provides ripe growing conditions, both high altitudes and cool nights to allow for slow cherry maturation and dense beans. Bourbon and Pacas varieties are commonly grown here and pop with flavor profiles that are more fresh and bright tasting as opposed to nutty, spicy, and drying. Washed processed coffees are the name of the game, processed on each small farm.

Market access is the second key factor to these coffees standing out. Benjamin Paz has been the relationship piece to connect coffee buyers and roasters with small-scale coffee producers in this area. His family runs the export mill, San Vicente, and they funnel all these lots through their dry mill before coordinating export. Most of the growers in Santa Barbara produce very small lots, like this one from Alex Aguilar, which is three bags (or 456 lbs)!

This washed Bourbon coffee from Alex Aguilar hit our cupping table next to a bunch of honey, natural, and anaerobic processed lots from Honduras' Marcala region. Alex’s lot stood out amidst these other flavor bombs. We loved it for its fresh citrus, slightly floral, and very intriguing taste--it’s hard to believe it is a coffee from Honduras. Vanilla, lemon bars, nectarine, and marzipan fill the cup. We couldn’t pass up this one, and we hope you enjoy the fruit of Alex Aguilar's labor!