Nelson Ramirez, Honduras

Like many young Hondurans today in the coffee industry, Nelson Ramirez started his own farm after graduating from university with a degree in agronomics. Combining the skills he honed at university with three generations of exceptional coffee farming heritage, he is now at the forefront of an exciting and experimental new wave of Honduran coffee.  

Speaking to our friends at LCM he summed up his story in the following words, ‘In 2007, I knew this region and I loved the potential to produce coffee of good quality.  The next year, a friend called me and tell me that a man sold a great property on "El Cielito". I visited the farm and bought it immediately; that year I worked to rejuvenate the plants and started to produce coffee...  In 2009, I prepared the first micro-lot, thank Angel Paz of San Vicente Mill, and could sell it as specialty coffee.’  

Nelson is a pioneer in ecologically friendly coffee production and works tirelessly to reduce the amount of waste product his farm creates. All wastewater is combined with the discarded coffee pulp in vermicompost facilities designed and built by Nelson himself. The compost is then used to biodynamically replenish the nutrients in the soil after every harvest.  

This particular coffee from Nelson has undergone an anaerobic washed processing. If you’re scratching your head as to what that is, cast your minds back to GCSE (or O-Level) biology and you might remember learning about anaerobic respiration taking place in the body during intense exercise with an oxygen deficit and producing lactic acid as a biproduct. Anaerobic fermentation of coffee operates much along these same lines, sealed in pressurised, deoxygenated containers and allowed to ferment with the assistance of whatever microbes are present, resulting in a deep, bold and funky profile.    

One of my personal favourites we've had at Garage this year, the Nelson Ramirez is not a coffee to be missed. Boozy pineapple vibes with a dry goji berry mouthfeel and a twist of tangy rhubarb acidity. Super juicy and with none of that getting caught in the rain nonsense. Sunshine sipping only.