Sagastume / Honduras

Country: Honduras
Producer: Pedro Sagastume Enamorado & his family
Farm: Los Quetzales
Region: Santa Barbara > El Dorado
Variety: Pacas
Process: Washed
Altitude: 1350 – 1650 m a.s.l
Harvest: 2024

Introducing our second coffee this season from the Santa Barbara region of Honduras.
Santa Barbara consistently places high in Honduras’ Cup of Excellence, and there’s something undeniably captivating about the terroir found in coffees from this area.

This release comes from Pedro Sagastume and his children, who grow the Pacas variety. Their farms are located very close to El Cedral, where Mario Moreno also grows coffee. The Sagastume family runs three farms in the area. During our visit in April, Heyvis Sagastume showed us around.
The Pacas variety in this lot is grown at Finca Los Quetzales, named after the beautiful and elusive national bird of neighboring Guatemala, the Quetzal. When Pedro purchased the land in 2011, the area was said to be a habitat for these mythical birds.

Surrounded by lush forests protected as a national park, the farm is both naturally and functionally beautiful. While dense and wild on the outskirts, the farm itself is meticulously maintained, with clear paths for harvest operations. From the highest point of the farm, you can step directly into a jungle-like forest. Pedro grew up learning about coffee from his father and grandfather, both coffee farmers. In 1978, he inherited a small plot from his father and planted coffee there. With the proceeds from those early harvests, he gradually bought more land and expanded. In 2011, he acquired the El Sauce plot and named it Los Quetzales, where he immediately planted Pacas variety coffee. In 2014, his coffee was recognized for its exceptional quality, suitable for the specialty market. With support from Beneficio San Vicente, he began producing specialty microlots.

That same year, the Cielito Lindo Cooperative was founded, and the certification process began. The Sagastume family joined and started participating in the process from the beginning. Pedro and his sons work as a team, making decisions together—something they consider the key to their family’s success.

This Pacas lot was processed at the family’s shared wet mill. Coffee cherries are transported from the farm to the mill within just 30 minutes, where they are immediately depulped. The mucilage-covered parchment is then dry fermented in ceramic-tiled tanks for 16–24 hours.

After fermentation, the coffee is washed with fresh spring water. Although some mucilage remains on the parchment, it is rinsed four more times. The parchment is then drained and dried in a parabolic solar dryer for approximately 14–18 days. During drying, defective beans are sorted out by hand.