Honduras Liquidambar Parainema

(6)

This lively and sweet single origin coffee comes from Finca Liquidambar, a family-owned farm in the Montecillo Mountains of Honduras, who took home a Honduras Cup of Excellence win for this same delicious variety in 2023.

Size

cecom-special

12oz

save 15% per oz

2lb

Flavor Profile

Origin
Francisco Morazán, Valle de Angeles, Honduras
Tasting Notes
Lively & sweet with notes of cinnamon sugar, tamarind, & white grape.
Roast Level

Light Med Lt Med Med Dark Dark

Origin Story

Alexia Mejia & Marcio Adalberto Paz Andino

Finca Liquidambar is a family-owned coffee farm nestled in the Montecillo Mountains of Western Honduras, one of the most productive coffee growing regions in Central America. The farm is named after the Liquidambar tree, which is indigenous to Central America and prominent throughout the valley where the farm is located. Established only eight years ago, Liquidambar has already experienced success in Honduras’s annual coffee quality competition, Cup of Excellence. A washed Parainema lot from Liquidambar was one of the winners in 2023's Cup of Excellence competition. This is Equator’s second year purchasing Parainema variety coffee from Finca Liquidambar.

The Parainema variety gained recognition in 2015 after receiving first place in the Honduras Cup of Excellence competition. It was developed as part of a national breeding program in Honduras conducted by Instituto Hondureño del Café. It is a cross between the Timor Hybrid, a spontaneous interspecies mutation between C. arabica and C. canephora (Robusta) that appeared on the island of Timor in the 1920s, and Villa Sarchi, a natural variation of Bourbon. Timor Hybrid’s Robusta genetics conferred disease resistance (particularly against nematodes) and high yields into Parainema, while Villa Sarchi contributed high quality potential, culminating in a productive and great tasting variety. Since Parainema plants are not stable from one generation to the next, it is not often recommended to farmers for planting. As a result, Parainema is still rare relative to many other varieties.

Altitude

5,400 feet

Variety

Parainema

Processing

Washed

Why We Love This Coffee

This lot represents Equator’s third year purchasing coffee from Liquidambar. Equator’s Director of Wholesale, Jesse B., first encountered this coffee at the Specialty Coffee Association EXPO, an annual trade show and brought it to the attention of our sourcing team. We love this coffee for its consistent sweetness and unique flavor profile.

Our Head Roaster, Michelle F., developed this year’s roast profile. “One of the things that makes the Parainema variety so unique is the botanical notes it presents. I find that this coffee benefits from an extended roast duration, which pushes those botanical notes into the realm of baking spices and fresh, sweet herbs. This year that came through as a subtle florality and sweet cinnamon pastry quality. The extended maillard phase contributed a depth of sweetness without destroying the tropical fruit acidity that is reminiscent of tamarind.

Sustainably Sourced

Good Coffee, Better Planet

We treasure our relationships in the global coffee community and invest in projects at origin to support our partners in their commitment to environmental sustainability and social welfare. We also invest in reducing our day-to-day impact, through initiatives like energy-efficient Loring Smart Roasters to reduce carbon emissions per batch by 80%.

As a certified B Corporation, we are a leader in sustainable practices that impact people and the planet. This third-party certification requires us to demonstrate transparency and accountability throughout our supply chain and quantify the impact our business creates for our employees, the community, and the environment. We are proud to be part of this community working together toward one unifying goal: using business as a force for good.