Guara Verde, or green macaw, nods to Honduras’ national bird and comes to us from the specialty division of our sister export company Becamo.
A new Guara Selection program from Becamo focuses on tracing coffees to producers and working with them on high-quality cultivation, harvesting and processing techniques. This particular coffee comes from 252 producers across the western departments of El Paraiso, Santa Barbara, Lempira, Copan and Ocotepeque (see map above) and was designed to meet a cup profile that’s sweet and fruity, with a caramel aroma and a bright acidity.
Technical Farmer Programs
The Guara Selection program pairs Becamo agronomists with farmers and addresses seven key areas: soil management; pest and disease control; tissue management; harvest and fermentation options; processing options; drying processes; and African bed protocols.
A discussion of fermentation options, for example, means addressing ideal techniques for aerobic, anaerobic and prolonged fermentations, and then on a separate occasion cupping the results together. Agronomists and producers likewise worked on and later cupped washed, semi-washed and honey-processed coffees.
On another occasion, the agronomists and producers spent a day building African beds and discussing best practices for using them (pictured); and on still another, the group intensively focused on harvesting and sorting methods.
We think the results of every effort are evident in each cup.