Honduras Twin Flowers EstateCoffee Bean Intro:

Honduras Las Gemelas 

Honduras Twin Flowers Estate  

Region: Copan

Farm: Las Gemelas (Twin Flowers)

Altitude: 1250

Variety: Red Caturra

Processing Method: Natural

Honduras produces two types of very high-quality coffee, both highly praised by coffee enthusiasts. One is the "Highland Coffee" grown at elevations of 1000–1500 meters, and the other is the "Special Highland Coffee," representing Honduras' highest grade, grown at 1500–2000 meters.

The coffee beans are relatively large, uniform in size, and have a consistent, glossy color. For easier harvesting, farmers prune the coffee trees to no more than 150 cm in height, as taller trees would require ladders, which is time-consuming and may damage the branches. Since each coffee cherry ripens at different times, maintaining quality requires manual picking, followed by selecting only the ripe ones. Even on the same branch, harvesting all the cherries can take several weeks.

Copan Region

Located between the Copan, Ocotepeque, and Lempira regions, it showcases intense chocolate flavors, with honey and caramel sweetness as its characteristics. Fruit flavors are relatively mild. Planted at altitudes of 1,000 – 1,500 meters, the harvest season runs from November to March.

Twin Flowers Estate

Nery Subala Oliana Aguilar inherited the farm from her father and family. To ensure coffee quality, they send their beans to the ARUCO ENTERPRISE association for cupping and quality control every year. The farm’s name, Las Gemelas (Twin Flowers), was chosen by Nery to commemorate the birth of her twin daughters.

She also broke with family tradition by moving away from the washed processing method and innovatively experimenting with natural processing, even using it to enter competitions. Two experimental batches were submitted — one fermented for 72 hours before drying, and the other for 90 hours before drying. The award-winning coffee came from the 72-hour long fermentation batch.

Variety (Red Caturra)

Red Caturra is a natural mutation of the Arabica variety Bourbon, discovered in Brazil in 1937. Compared to other coffees, Red Caturra has firmer fruit that is harder to pick, offers higher disease resistance, and is suitable for high-altitude cultivation. It has a clean and delicate acidity.

Natural processing is the oldest and most original method of coffee processing. Harvested coffee cherries are placed on patios or even roadsides to be directly sun-dried (taking about 27 to 30 days), reducing moisture content from around 60% down to approximately 12%. Beans processed this way have the lowest acidity, prominent sweetness, high body, but slightly lower clarity.

Green Bean Analysis

These beans are light green in color, with relatively abundant silver skin on the surface. The beans are round, short, and uniform in size. They have a slightly sour, grassy aroma along with a hint of pear.

Roast Curve

Roaster: Yangjia 800N (batch size 300g)

 When the roaster reaches 175°C, charge the drum immediately at a power of 130, with the damper set to 3. The turning point occurs at 1’36”, with the drum temp at 140°C and the damper adjusted to 3.5 while keeping the power unchanged. At 151.1°C, the bean surface turns yellow, the grassy flavor disappears completely, and the dehydration phase begins. When the drum reaches 176°C, reduce power to 100, keeping the damper unchanged.

At 8’28”, the beans show wrinkled, ugly surfaces with black streaks, and the smell shifts clearly from toastiness to coffee aroma, marking the prelude to first crack. Listen carefully for the first crack sound. At 9’00”, first crack begins; adjust the damper to 4. Allow 1’40” of development post-first crack, then drop the beans at 196°C.

Agtron bean color value is 70.1 (top image), Agtron husk color value is 73.7 (bottom image), Roast Delta is 3.6.