Honduras | Comsa

This coffee from Marcala is the produce of a number of farmers with a particular focus on organic growing. These farmers have been working together since 2001 in a partnership known as Café Organico Marcala, or COMSA.

COMSA's focus is working to help farmers move to organic farming and generally transitioning from more traditional farm methods to more modern sustainable practices. The organisation supports not only the training of farmers but also their children's education, reflecting a broader impact on the local community. 25% of the organisation's income is devoted to education.

This coffee is a little unusual not only for its honey processing but even moreso in its mix of varieties. While Red Catuai is far from an unusual component of Honduran coffee, Parainema, Lempira and Icatu are much more rare.  All three were lab developed with a focus on their resistance to disease.  Icatu was developed in Brazil whereas Lempira and Parainema are Honduras creations developed by Instituto Hondureño del Café (IHCAFE). These two varieties are closely related to the Timor Hybrid, a unique interspecies variety which appeared spontaneously on the South East Asian island of Timor in the 1920s.

The Timor Hybrid has played a huge part in lab effort in Central America to combat coffee diseases including coffee leaf rust.  As climate change has hit this part of the world in recent years, many higher altitude growing areas have seen higher temperatures with more sporadic but heavy rainfall: perfect conditions for these diseases to spread. It is just one of many challenges climate change throws up for farmers in these regions and agricultural labs are now fighting to protect these farmers' livelihoods.

Tastes amazing, but more importantly - grown with future care.