OBSIDIAN WREATH, Honduras

Mulberry, Dark Chocolate, Green Apple

Finca La Tina, nestled in the highlands of Marcala in La Paz, Honduras, is a quietly revered estate once helmed by Don Fabio Caballero, a name held in high esteem within the circles of specialty coffee. Although Don Fabio has since retreated from the forefront, content with a smaller stake and a more contemplative pace of life, the farm remains firmly within the care of his daughter Marysabel Caballero and her husband Moisés Herrera. Under their stewardship, the legacy of precision and pride continues, though with the unspoken weight of upholding a storied name. The estate sits at an altitude favourable to coffee cultivation, benefiting from the unique microclimate of the region. This geography, coupled with a painstaking commitment to traditional practices, has placed La Tina among the few in Honduras that consistently deliver a product of international regard. This current lot from La Tina is a Catuai varietal, processed through the ‘Supernatural’ method. This involves an extended natural fermentation, followed by a deliberately slow drying phase at low temperatures. The effect is dramatic yet deliberate, concentrating sugars while teasing out clarity and brightness in the cup. Flavours emerge with a vivid, almost hallucinatory precision. This approach is not merely experimental. It is a quiet defiance against the standardisation of flavour, an assertion that coffee, like any honest agricultural product, is best when it refuses to conform. The Caballeros do not chase trends. They create conditions in which nature is permitted its fullest expression.

In the natural process, whole cherry is dried intact so the bean steeps in its own fruit. Done with discipline it builds heavy sweetness, body and pronounced berry character, with no shortcuts at the drying stage.

Honduras spans high mountain ranges with distinct microclimates, and its growers increasingly direct careful processing toward bright, sweet, expressive lots.