CABALLERO ESPRESSO / HONDURAS

Origin: Honduras
Producers: Marysabel Caballero & Moises Herrera
Region: Marcala > Chinacla
Farm: Las Lomas
Variety: Catuai
Process: Washed
Altitude: 1580 masl
Harvest: 2025

Marysabel Caballero and Moises Herrera are known as some of the most respected coffee producers in Honduras. Marysabel, who was born into a coffee-growing family, once studied abroad but couldn’t forget her childhood memories on the farm and decided to return to coffee production despite her father’s opposition. Moises, originally from Guatemala, came to Honduras for work and met Marysabel by chance during a visit to Chinacla for field research. After their marriage, they inherited land from her father and began cultivating coffee together. Our connection with the Caballero family dates back to 2016, when the two visited our roastery in Shibuya.

Their farms are spread across four main areas — Chinacla, Santa Ana, San Jose, and Mogola — totaling 57 farms today. In addition to managing their farms, they also operate both a wet mill and a dry mill, allowing them to oversee every step of coffee production from start to finish.

In the processing stage, after depulping, they use a Penagos Aqua Pulper to remove mucilage, followed by a 12-hour tank fermentation and washing in channels for selection. The parchment coffee is then soaked in water for another 12 hours and dried for around 14 days on raised African beds. In recent years, they have introduced a new sorting system that combines weight and color sorting, improving efficiency and reducing water usage through continuous investment in new equipment.

In their region, it is particularly challenging to dry coffee consistently due to rainfall and humidity. To overcome this, Moises installed a series of mechanical dryers inside the dry mill, enabling stable drying regardless of weather conditions. Currently, the mill houses five large dryers, which are mainly used for larger lots. Even micro-lots are sometimes finished in these dryers to fine-tune moisture content at the final stage of drying, which can last from two weeks to a month. If drying happens too quickly at high temperatures, the coffee’s embryo can be damaged, reducing its shelf life and long-term flavor stability. Slow and steady drying, on the other hand, preserves the coffee’s character and extends its shelf life. Moises developed detailed drying profiles through repeated trials to achieve consistent and high-quality results using these dryers.

The couple also focuses on maintaining healthy soil. They primarily use organic compost made from coffee cherry pulp mixed with cow and chicken manure, and work closely with agronomists to monitor the nutritional balance of their coffee trees. They also plant shade and fruit trees such as orange, avocado, and banana to support biodiversity and provide natural shade.

During harvest, they use a double-bag system to separate ripe and unripe cherries, and pay pickers higher-than-average wages for carefully selecting only ripe cherries. The cherries are collected daily, and pickers are paid based on the weight of their harvest.

Their consistent and rigorous approach to quality control has been recognized internationally — they won 1st place at the Cup of Excellence Honduras in both 2016 and 2018. The Caballero family continues to innovate, listening closely to the needs of roasters and importers while experimenting with new processing methods to further improve quality.