Jorge Lanza (Washed) - Honduras

Candied pecans, green fig and watermelon.

Farm: La Huerta
Country: Honduras
Region: Santa Barbara
Elevation: 1,550 masl
Variety: Parainema
Processing: Washed
Producer: Jorge Lanza
Awards: #1 Cup of Excellence 2013
Sourced Through: Project Origin

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Coffee producer Jorge Lanza was raised by his grandmother Dona Secundina and she provided all he needed to study accounting. The farmer who had dedicated his life to numbers after working with several companies one day decided to buy 30 acres of land in Santa Barbara, Quimistan. This day back in 1990 was his first step as a coffee farmer. Finca El Amigo produced high altitude coffee while Jorge continued to work simultaneously as an independant accountant.

After nine years producing coffee he became the General Manager for the National Association of Coffee Growers ANACAFEH. He told Project Origin “I worked travelling all through Honduras organising ANACAFEH, helping producers with technical, financial and social assistance. I held the position for 10 years. During this time I visited farms from other departments and became interested in growing specialty coffee and with the personal goal of start producing specialty coffees and win COE in Honduras.”

A few years ago, Jorge decided to invest in specialty coffee by purchasing the farm La Huerta, and recently purchased a third lot of land, called Finca Zafiro, to advance on his specialty COE coffee goals. He invested not only in purchasing new lands to add to Finca El Amigo, but also invested energy towards improving the farming conditions through cultivation and farm management. Finca Zafiro grows the parainema and geisha varieties under the shade of wood and plantain trees, and La Huerta grows caturra, parainema and geisha varieties.

At the second harvest of La Huerta, Jorge Lanza won Honduras COE 2013 with a record score of 92.75 points! Both of his specialty focused farms have unique micro-climates, spectacular quality of soil and water, and of course, great hands to nurture and produce outstanding specialty coffee.

How This Lot Was Processed

After only picking ripe cherries they are floated and then pulped. They then undergo a dry (non-submerged) fermentation of 10-14 hours in concrete pillas, under shade. Once fermentation is complete the parchment coffee is washed in concrete channels to remove any remaining mucilage and is then dried on raised beds until a moisture content of 10-12% is reach. Drying typically takes 12-15 days and then coffee is then stored still in parchment until dry milling ready for export.

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