Crown Jewel Honduras Santa Elena Walter Argueta Washed

Taste

Taste Analysis by Isabella Vitaliano  

We are thrilled to feature a Catracha coffee on the menu once again. This year, our selection comes from Walter Argueta and his 4-acre farm. Flexible for any menu, the base notes of this coffee transition between tangerine, nectarine, sweet plantain, sesame and molasses. Hints of sweet cornbread, sugar cookies and spices compliment the base to bring about an easy-drinking experience. While there is lots of sweetness and roundness from the molasses and cornbread notes, you’ll also discover a mellow acidity of lemon and lime to bring some brightness to the cup. 

This lot could fit in on any menu as your daily driver. We recommend serving it on pour over or drip, although an espresso version would also taste great. Mayra and the whole of the Catracha team and the farmers they partner with did an excellent job on this lot, we are looking forward to what else they will bring next year.  

source

Source Analysis by Mayra Orellana-Powell 

Walter Argueta has a 4-acre farm called Los Arguetas in the community of Aguasinga near where he lives with his wife and children. In prior years, Walter has sold his family’s coffee in cherry to the local middleman. This is Walter’s second year working with Catracha Coffee and first year to have his own micro-lot. During this time, he has improved his farm management practices using lime to control the pH of his soil, fertilizing with organic compost, and spraying organic fungicides to control levels of leaf rust. These actions have improved the health of his farm and the quality of his coffee production. Walter has also learned to process his coffee using his own micro-mill so that he can depulp, ferment and dry his coffee before delivering it to Catracha Coffee. Walter plans to use the extra income from the sale of his coffee to pay for renovations at his farm. 

Mayra Orellana-Powell founded Catracha Coffee Company to connect her Coffee growing community with roasters. Ten years later, Catracha Coffee has gained momentum with more than 80 producers and 20 roasters working together on sustainable relationships and a profit-sharing model, which has consistently paid at least $2.00 per pound directly to producers. This extra income helps increase each producer’s capacity to reinvest in their farm, and overtime, increase their standard of living. 

The sale of Catracha Coffee also creates income for a non-profit called Catracha Community (a 501(1)(c)(3) nonprofit), which invests in income diversification opportunities without taking resources from a farmer’s bottom line. Catracha Community hosts weekly workshops for women and youth to learn craft making skills. Like the coffee, the focus is on quality. With the help of talented volunteers, the group has been able to make many beautiful things and sell them through our network of coffee friends. They even have a name for the group, Catracha Colectivo. Catracha Community has also established an art residence and studio in Santa Elena to host artists from Honduras and around the world. These artists have been running art classes two days a week for over a year. Every week more than 30 children come and learn art. Art is starting to pop up everywhere around Santa Elena. There are more than 30 murals along the streets of Santa Elena, in people’s homes, and at many schools. During the COVID 19 pandemic, group activities have been suspended but women continue to make crafts and masks to earn extra income. Artists have been visiting homes to paint small works of art on windows and doors. They have also been painting stools and selling them for extra income. Many families are also starting family gardens and trading seed to diversify their harvest. 

Green

Green Analysis by Isabella Vitaliano 

We always expect lots from Catratcha to come in with great specs and something surprising for the region: a high density reading. This rings true for this lot, which has an above average density.  

Catuai was developed in Brazil, a short stature tree with improved resilience. Keep an eye out in the roaster with the wider screen size distribution and check out the roasters notes for any adjustments in airflow to accommodate this attribute. Readings are pristine both in moisture content and water activity, indicating great drying practices and easy roasting. 

Diedrich

Diedrich IR5 Analysis by Doris Garrido 

• Batch Size: 4.5 lbs. 

My first encounter with producers in the coffee industry was through meeting Mayra Orellana-Powell. She is the founder and spokesperson of the Catracha project. Her knowledge of the social environment of the coffee communities has profoundly impacted how I have learned about the industry and how much I respect every hand behind every coffee bean. Today I am excited to have the chance to roast a coffee from this project again, one cultivated and processed by Water Argueta from his farm located in Aguasinga Honduras.  

This is a washed process coffee, dried on raised tables. These are good-looking beans, with low density, and average moisture.  

This coffee showed a delicate acidity in the sample. Based on this, my approach in this analysis was to enlighten the acidity while also bringing the subtle sweetness that this coffee possesses.  

I only had 4.5 lbs. of coffee for this roast. I decided to start the roast at 392F and waited for a minute to observe how quickly it was absorbing the heat before starting my first gas input. The first gas at 1:10 was 100% and I let it go for 4 minutes before dropping to 60% just in time before the temperature started rising. At 5 minutes, I reduced it to 30% as I noticed that I needed to pace it down. My next move was to increase the airflow to 100% and wait for the first crack, which happened at 380F. 

The following phase lasted only 2 minutes and 39 seconds, slightly shorter than I expected, but because of the small batch size, the beans had absorbed the heat very well. Before losing the roast, I turned the pilot off. I developed the coffee for 1 minute and 28 seconds and dropped it at 387.6F. 

The coffee exudes a sweet aroma on the cupping table. It reveals a balanced flavor with notes of citrus, a hint of watermelon, mild mandarins, apple cider, cane sugar, pear, raisin, sweet orange and toasted almonds. A very delightful cup of coffee to sip on! 

Aillio Bullet R1

Aillio Bullet R1 IBTS Analysis by Evan Gilman 

Unless otherwise noted, we use both the roast.world site and Artisan software to document our roasts on the Bullet. You can find our roast documentation below, by searching on roast.world, or by clicking on the Artisan links below.  

Always a pleasure to see coffees from our friends at Catracha Coffee arrive! These are some of the sweetest and most nuanced coffees I’ve had the opportunity to taste from Honduras. What’s more, they improve year after year with the technical assistance and community building that Mayra and Lowell have undertaken in Santa Elena. 

So with that being said, Walter Argueta is a brand-new producing member of their team, and this is the first year I’ve tried his coffee. Clearly, he’s been doing something right all along. This coffee was an absolute dream to roast, even with my smaller batch size of 250g.  

I started off the roast with 437F charge temperature, opting to lower my heat application to P6 until turning point and using F3 fan speed from the outset. At turning point, I ramped up that heat to P8 and waited for a bit to increase fan speed to F4. Approaching yellowing, I reduced heat to P7 then to P6 once yellowing began, along with yet more fan speed to F5. I knew how dense this coffee would be, and continued reducing the heat I was putting into the system as the roast went along, figuring the trajectory of the roast would continue unabated despite my seemingly drastic moves. I reduced heat to P5 and increased fan to F6 before first crack – something I almost never do. After first crack, I went a step further and really got the air moving with F7. Finally the rate of change bottomed out and I finished the roast at 8:09 / 395F – fairly short, and definitely sweet.  

Sr. Agueta’s coffee is simply a sugar bomb. The milk chocolatey sweetness I expect from this area was there in spades. Zesty lime acidity drew my perception of sugar to greater heights, and almond pastry sweetness continued on my palate for some time after successive sips. Probably my favorite note when tasting this coffee was a slight tinge of berry that was always just out of reach. Chasing that note had me coming back for more sips, and I wonder if a slightly slower roast might have brought it out more effectively.  

Regardless, I couldn’t recommend this coffee enough for filter drip. It’s a chugger. Have three cups, you’ll barely notice. This coffee would likely work well as an espresso, but there’s sweet nuance here that I think works really well in a crisp and clean pourover. Get some before I chug it all!  

Follow along with my roast here at roast.world: https://roast.world/egilman/roasts/UGLHJk5_HP5LEm4Kz2eiS 

IKAWA

Ikawa Pro V3 Analysis by Isabella Vitaliano 

Our current Ikawa practice compares two sample roast profiles, originally designed for different densities of green coffee. The two roasts differ slightly in total length, charge temperature, and time spent between color change in first crack. You can learn more about the profiles here. 

Catratcha is a group we are excited to work with again and again. This lot from Sant Elena is your perfect daily driver and has the flexibility to be placed anywhere in your menu.  

The high-density roast was a little flat for this coffee, with flavors like almond butter and sesame. It felt a bit mild.  

The extra development time on the low-density profile did the coffee good. I got notes like 7-up, grapefruit, sugar cookie, bay leaf, and oregano. Herbal notes paired with sugar cookie and a limey 7-up makes for a cohesive and delicious cup.  

I highly recommend roasting using the low-density profile.  

You can roast your own by linking to our profiles in the Ikawa Pro app here: 

• Roast 1: Low Density Sample Roast 
• Roast 2: High Density Sample Roast   

Brew

Brew Analysis by Taylor Brandon

Upon opening the container of the washed Honduras Santa Elena coffee, I was struck by savory notes of sesame and sweet corn. The savory story continued on the nose after the grind and again once brewed. The savory trailed into the flavor in the cup but was accompanied by a fruity sweetness that grounded the coffee, in a beautiful intersection of savory and sweet. Much like the transition from summer to fall; my colleagues noted flavors of orange, brownie, almond, and brown sugar. Of the four brews I conducted to explore this coffee, brews made with the Kalita Wave (conical brewer) with a tighter grind were my favorite. This was a nice coffee that will find good use on any menu. It’s a reliable offering that would make a great drip coffee or house espresso.  

Brew 1: The first brew began with a dose of 18.5 grams of coffee and a grind of 10. Our TDS came to 1.48 and produced notes of lemon lime, sweet plantain, cashew and honey.  

Brew 2: I stayed with the Kalita Wave, kept the dose the same, but tightened the grind finer to 9. This brew yielded a TDS of 1.39 and presented a depth of flavor that included toffee, soy sauce and guava. I was a fan of the complexity here! 

Brew 3: For brews 3 and 4 I used the V60 and lowered my dose to 18 grams of coffee. I got a TDS of 1.3 and loved the notes of oolong tea, green grape, tangerine and sage. This brew presented delicate flavors while maintaining its robustness and came out on top as my favorite.  

Brew 4: In the fourth brew I tightened the grind slightly to 18.5 and kept all other variables the same. This yielded a TDS of 1.28, which was the lowest of the group. At first sip this was a bit bitter but as I continued, I noticed notes of warming spices, sweet corn peanuts and plum.