Theodore’s Coffee Roasters has five (5!) Honduran coffees in rotation right now and they were kind enough to send me small sample bags of all five of them! Woo hoo! I’m starting things off with the Lurvin-Pacas selection. If anyone knows Honduran coffee, it’s Theodore’s, so let’s get into this one!
Purchase this coffee directly for $19/12oz (free shipping on all orders!)
THEODORE’S COFFEE ROASTERS HONDURAS LURVIN-PACAS
Theodore’s Coffee Roasters was founded in Owosso, Michigan (near Flint) in 2014 by Darwin Pavon. Darwin spent years working in Honduras collecting soil samples to develop better fertilizers for coffee farms, and during this time he made lots of personal connections with farms that allows him special access to some really great coffee, like this collection of Honduran coffees Theodore’s is offering currently. To make matters even better, a portion of the profits from every coffee sold goes to the Micah Project, which helps support boys in extreme poverty in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Darwin was one of the first residents of the Micah Project to make good and he gives back with every coffee sold! And, the icing on the cake? Free shipping in the USA on all orders. I mean, come on! I’m a total Theodore’s fanboy because their roasting is on point every time, so I can’t wait to rip into this one!
This morning’s coffee is from Lurvin Ventura’s Las Pacas farm. This is an exclusive Theodore’s offering. Lurvin and Darwin both graduated from the same university and hit it off, starting their friendship 11 years ago. Lurvin manages a farm supply store, gas station, coffee processing plant and exportation business, as well as his farm and five kids! That’s about it as far as info regarding this coffee, but it’s safe to say it’s a washed selection. As far as altitude, varieties, etc, I’m not sure. Theodore’s tasting notes for this coffee are awesome: “caramel, creamy and oranges with sugar cane and vanilla finish.” Yum!
I am using my standard pourover setup of a 1:16 ratio of 28g of coffee to 450g of water in a notNeutral Gino dripper with Kalita 185 filter. My Handground grinder is at 3 and I always use Third Wave Water for everything coffee-related. For such a dense-sounding description I was surprised to find a medium-light body to this cup. Taking my first few sips, it’s clear that this coffee is all about the sugar development and sweetness. There’s a lot of caramel sweetness in the front that carries through all the way into the finish and aftertaste. To offer a little balance to this sweetness and give some high notes to the cup, there is some gentle orange acidity to be found. It’s an accompaniment, for sure, rather than the main player, but it adds important structure to this sugar-bomb, which would be too static and one-dimensional without this little shot of acidity to pick it up.
Even with the light-side-of-medium body, this coffee does have a creamy, milky mouthfeel. There’s the feeling of a lot of residual sugar in the cup, which certainly adds to the sensation of a heavier mouthfeel. This coffee finishes sweet and has a pleasant, lingering aftertaste. I don’t know that I get vanilla out of it, but that’s always a tough one for me to find. There is a sugar cookie sort of vibe on my palate in the aftertaste between sips, though, so maybe vanilla is in there and I just don’t know it!
I love this coffee! It’s super sweet without being cloying in the least. It’s clean and simple but that light orange acidity gives it enough top end for balance and structure, and man, this is an easy drinking coffee. It begs to be gulped down! This would make a great dessert coffee and it’s a fantastic start on a frosty, cold Kansas City hump day morning. Another big winner for Theodore’s!