Honduras Don Abel Botijas Pacamara Washed

The farm Las Botijas is named so after the town legend about a hidden treasure buried underground. The “botijas” is a potbellied earthenware jug with two openings used to hide money underground away from humidity, and they were later dug up and used as musical instruments in the 19th century. The coffee farm Las Botijas was purchased by Abel Giron in 2011, and he chose to plant the pacamara variety simply because he liked the big cherries this tree produced. After spending years growing vegetables, Abel now grows coffee and does some transport work to sustain the family. His biggest goal is to be able to send his eldest son to a better university to finish his biology studies. Project Origin began working with Abel from 2016 - the year he placed 1st in the Project Origin Honduras Late Harvest Auction. This award was an incredible achievement. Only two years prior, Abel began pulping and processing his own beans rather than selling them as harvested cherries to neighbours, and only one year prior, in 2015, his beans were registering a final measure of 40% moisture content, instead of the standard 10-12%. It was our local contact, Rony Gamez, who chose to help Abel, and decided to dry the coffee in Marcala instead of on the farm. The result was a 90 point coffee, and Abel went on to win back to back auctions with a 92 point coffee taking the win in 2017.