Honduran Coffee Facts and Tidbits
In the early days
Hondurans have been growing coffee since the colonial period - decades before achieving independence from Spain in 1821. Colonial records show that by the year 1804, a census by then Governor don Ramon de Anguiano declared: “Honduran coffee is of such quality as the one from Moka!” Coffees grown in Moka (now Mauritius) and Java (now Indonesia) were considered the best in the world in the 1800's.
For the record...
The first record of coffee in Honduras appeared in the Guatemalan Gazette published on 12 September 1799, showing an importation of "3 barrels of coffee from Havana, Cuba onboard the Queen Luisa entering Honduras in the Port of Trujillo". This could be the seed origin of modern Honduran coffee cultivation.
Dollars & Beans
Honduras is the 3rd largest grower of coffee in the world, behind Brazil and Vietnam. Coffee is extremely important to the Honduran economy, representing around 10% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and benefiting approximately 120,000 families. During the harvest season, the coffee industry employs 1 million people meaning that about 20% of the country’s population depends on coffee for their livelihood.
Aiming for a quality brew
How is coffee grown in Honduras?
Honduran farmers have been working very hard to improve the quality of their coffee. This strategy allows them to obtain higher market prices and even access specialty coffee markets and auctions; reducing the volatile effects of commodity coffee world prices. In recent years quality coffees from Hondurans have broken price records at auctions: See HERE and HERE
How is coffee grown in Honduras?
How is coffee grown in Honduras?
How is coffee grown in Honduras?
Diversity is the name of the game. There are grand estates with more than 100 years of production history, and at the same time coffee producer co-ops utilizing the latest equipment and technology. From professional agronomists to self-taught small-scale farmers, everyone is bringing their own skills, ideas, and creativity to the table. Traditions, innovation, and modern technology live side by side on Honduran coffee farms.
Denomination of Origin Marcala
How is coffee grown in Honduras?
How is coffee grown in Honduras?
Since 2005, Honduran coffee grown in the Marcala region, in the Department of La Paz, has been recognized as Central America’s first “designation of origin” registry for a food item. This is a very significant milestone that allows coffee farmers in Marcala the opportunity to market their specialty coffee with the DO Seal. Coffee from the Marcala region features a special flavor that is truly unique
Choose Honduras Coffee Initiative
Agritourism as a value-added farm activity
Coffee farmers face many sustainability challenges including climate change, Leaf Rust disease, and volatile prices of coffee traded as a commodity in the world markets, among others. Many farmers look for creative solutions to overcome these challenges, by improving the quality of their beans, growing specialty coffee varieties, exploring direct trade channels, and adding alternative income sources to their farm operation, like coffee farm tours. One of the income source alternatives is a coffee tour, a type of agri-tourism activity that can provide a win-win scenario for the farmer and the visitors. Agritourism can provide income to farmers and their families reducing the pressure to emigrate from the coffee regions in search of jobs.
On our coffee trips, when you visit a coffee farm you will experience first hand, the process of growing, harvesting, processing and roasting quality coffee. The experiences are led by coffee farmers, local tour guides and entrepreneurs that are committed to sustainable tourism practices.
The Choose Honduras Coffee Initiative (previously called Visit Honduras Coffee) is a travel marketing platform created and managed by Honduras Turismo y Marketing S.A., to design and promote coffee farm trips, that generate supplementary income to farmers and their families.
Learn More
We work with coffee farmers, specialty coffee shops, and local tour guides to offer amazing experiences that include:
- interactive and hands-on coffee farm visits and coffee tours
- on-site coffee tastings
- coffee roasting demos
- specialty coffee cupping sessions
- bird watching walks in the farms
- multi-day travel itineraries
- origin trips for interested coffee buyers
Birds & Coffee Relationship
Shade-grown coffee farms are important habitat for Neotropical migratory birds
Coffee farms with tree shade cover in the highlands of Honduras are a very important habitat for Neotropical migratory birds and great places for birdwatching, photography, and nature tours. Many of the birds that you see in North America in the spring and summer will spend their winter in Central and South America. Therefore it is very important for us to protect and conserve their wintering habitats so that they can be healthy and ready for the flight back to their breeding grounds.
Birds & Coffee Trip
Enjoy a leisurely birdwatching tour through the coffee-growing highlands of Honduras. Great birding locations around Lake Yojoa, Santa Barbara National Park, Marcala, El Jilguero Reserve, and Copan.
During the trip we will be birding in tree-shade coffee farms, and in forests and open spaces near the coffee farms. In this slow paced birding tour, you will have a chance to meet coffee farmers to learn about growing, harvesting and processing quality coffee, and of course we will enjoy delicious, high altitude, shade grown coffee!
How can we help migratory birds?
There are many things that we can do to help migratory birds. In our case, creating birding and nature tours that have a positive economic impact in the communities we visit is very important. We also organize events in the coffee growing regions to create awareness for the important link between birds and coffee, and to share the message that a healthy ecosystem for birds is a healthy ecosystem for humans.
What can you do to help migratory birds?
- take a birdwatching trip to the tropics, with a birding tour company committed to sustainable tourism practices. Your birding tour can make a positive impact in the host country.
- buy and drink "good coffee". You might like dark roast or medium roast, maybe full body or subtle acidity, the cup profile of your preferred coffee is your own, but make sure it is Bird-friendly Certified, or at least organic, and sourced from a shade grown coffee farm.