Honduras Caballero

Chinacla, Honduras — Washed Catuai At 1,550 Meters

This lot is grown in the Chinacla highlands of Honduras's La Paz department, on the family farm run by Marysabel Caballero and Moisés Herrera. The same farm supplies DABOV's washed Finca El Puente lot and, from a separate planting, its natural-processed Honduras Geisha — three different expressions of one Chinacla operation, distinguished by variety and process rather than location.

Chinacla sits in a part of Honduras that only started gaining international recognition as a serious specialty-coffee origin in the last couple of decades, as small growers here shifted from selling into the anonymous commodity market toward direct relationships with roasters who pay for quality and traceability. Caballero and Herrera's farm has been at the center of that shift, building a reputation for careful, farm-level processing rather than volume.

The trees here are Catuai, a cross between Caturra and Mundo Novo developed to combine Caturra's compact size with Mundo Novo's vigor. It's a robust plant — able to withstand heavy wind and rain better than more delicate varieties — while still producing the kind of cup quality that's made it one of the most widely planted cultivars across Central America.

At 1,550 meters, this farm sits at a solid mid-to-high altitude for Honduran coffee: high enough to slow cherry maturation and concentrate sugars, without reaching the extreme elevations of some of the country's highest single-farm lots. Processing is washed — cherries are pulped to remove the fruit, fermented briefly to break down the remaining mucilage, then dried — the method responsible for this cup's cleaner brown-sugar and pear character, layered under a fuller body than most washed coffee shows.

That full body is worth noting on its own: washed processing typically produces a lighter-bodied cup than natural or honey processing does, since the fruit is removed early rather than left in contact with the bean. A full body on a washed coffee like this one usually comes down to the specific plot, the tree's maturity, and careful post-harvest handling more than the process itself.

Brown Sugar, Pear, Raspberry

This cup opens with brown-sugar sweetness, carries pear through the middle, and finishes with a soft raspberry brightness — fruitier than a typical washed Central American coffee, but without the sharp acidity a natural process would add. Body is full, acidity is gentle, and the sweetness is pronounced enough to enjoy black.

On the SCA flavor wheel, brown sugar sits in the sweet/brown-sugar sub-category, pear in the other-fruit category, and raspberry in berry/dried-fruit — an unusually broad spread for a washed coffee, which typically leans toward one register (nutty, or citrus-clean) rather than several fruit notes at once. The medium-light roast is doing real work here: light enough to keep the pear and raspberry notes from getting roasted out, but developed enough to bring the brown-sugar sweetness forward.

That full body is the most distinctive part of the cup — it gives this coffee more weight on the palate than most washed lots carry, closer to what you'd expect from a natural or honey process, while keeping the cleaner acidity washing produces.

Full-Bodied Enough For Filter Or Full Immersion

This lot's full body means it holds up well across brew methods, unlike more delicate washed coffees that show best only in pour-over.

Ratio: 1:16 for pour-over (for example, 20g coffee to 320g water); 1:15 for French press.

Grind: Medium-fine for pour-over, coarser (similar to sea salt) for French press.

Water temperature: 200-205°F (93-96°C).

Time: 2:30-3:00 for pour-over; 4:00 for French press.

French Press

The full body here is a genuinely good match for full immersion — French press won't wash out this coffee's brown-sugar and pear character the way it can with a more delicate, thin-bodied washed lot.

Pour-Over

For a cleaner cup that highlights the raspberry note more distinctly, a V60 or similar pour-over keeps the acidity brighter and the finish crisper.

Storage And Freshness

Keep this coffee whole-bean and grind it just before brewing, storing the bag sealed and away from light and heat. Full-bodied washed coffee still loses aromatic complexity once ground, even if it's less fragile overall than a delicate natural-processed lot.

Did You Know

• Catuai's name means "very good" in Tupi-Guarani. Brazil's Instituto Agronômico crossed Caturra and Mundo Novo in 1949, spent more than two decades refining the result, and released Catuai commercially in 1972. It now accounts for roughly half of Brazil's coffee acreage and has spread across Central America, including Honduras.

• Honduras is Central America's largest coffee producer. It's also ranked among the world's top Arabica-producing countries by volume since 2017 — a scale that can get overshadowed by smaller, more famous origins like Panama or Costa Rica in specialty-coffee conversation.

• Chinacla only recently became known outside Honduras. Farms in this part of La Paz department shifted from selling into the anonymous domestic commodity market toward direct relationships with international roasters within roughly the last two decades — a shift built largely on farms like this one investing in quality-focused processing.

• A full body on a washed coffee is the less common outcome. Washed processing typically produces a lighter-bodied cup than natural or honey processing, since the fruit is removed from the bean early rather than left in contact with it during drying — this lot's full body comes down to the specific plot and careful post-harvest handling rather than the process itself.

What does Honduras Caballero coffee taste like?

This washed Catuai lot cups with brown sugar, pear, and raspberry, in a full body with gentle acidity — fruitier than a typical washed Central American coffee, though cleaner than a natural-processed lot would be.

Is this the same coffee as Honduras Finca El Puente?

They're related but different lots from the same Chinacla farm: Finca El Puente is also washed Catuai from the same farm and altitude, while this Caballero lot carries its own flavor profile and full body from a separate plot and harvest.

What is Catuai?

Catuai is a cross between the Caturra and Mundo Novo varieties, developed in Brazil in 1949 and released commercially in 1972. It's a robust, high-yielding plant that's since become one of the most widely grown coffee varieties across Central America, prized for handling wind and rain well without losing cup quality.

Why does this washed coffee have a full body?

Washed processing usually produces a lighter body than natural or honey processing, since the fruit is removed from the bean before drying rather than staying in contact with it. This lot's fuller body comes down to the specific plot and careful post-harvest handling rather than an unusual process.

Is Honduras known for good coffee?

Yes — Honduras is Central America's largest coffee producer and has ranked among the world's top Arabica-producing countries by volume since 2017, even though it gets less specialty-coffee attention than smaller, more famous origins like Panama.

How should I brew this coffee?

This full-bodied washed lot works well both as a pour-over (1:16 ratio, medium-fine grind, 200-205°F water) and in a French press (1:15 ratio, coarser grind, 4-minute steep) — its body holds up to full immersion better than a lighter, more delicate washed coffee would.