Origin to Cup

Finca Santa Marta, Tegucigalpita, Honduras

We gratefully wish to acknowledge the text and photos provided by Ana Lucia Lardizábal de Hawit

Honduras - The Rising Star in Central America

Honduras is located in the heart of one of the finest coffee growing regions of the world. The country is surrounded by renowned coffee producers Guatemala to the northwest, El Salvador and Costa Rica to the south, and Nicaragua to the southeast. The northern coast of Honduras borders the Caribbean Sea, while its southern coast reaches the Pacific Ocean through the Gulf of Fonseca. The climate varies from tropical in the lowlands to temperate in the mountains. Approximately 80% of the country consists of mountain areas, with the western mountains blending into the mountain ranges of Guatemala and the eastern mountains merging with those of Nicaragua.

It is the combination of high altitudes, temperate microclimates, and soil composition (terroir) that make Honduras an ideal place to grow premium quality coffee. Although it produces 3% of the world’s coffee, comparable to its much better known neighbor Guatemala, Honduras has only in the past few years focused on the specialty coffee market (coffees that score at least 85 in international competitions, such as the Cup of Excellence®) and therefore not yet achieved the recognition of some of its Latin American neighbors. That is changing very rapidly, with a few small, family-owned Fincas (coffee plantations) such as Finca Santa Marta successfully cultivating and producing premium quality coffees at origin.

El Monguito - Unique Microclimate and Terroir

The Finca Santa Marta property encompasses 146 acres (59 hectares) of land located on the outskirts of the famous Parque Nacional Pico Pijol (national forest preserve), near the village of Tegucigalpita, municipality of Victoria, State of Yoro. Pico Pijol is situated on the flanks of Montaña de la Flor (Mountain of the Flower), one of the major peaks of La Cordillera Central with an altitude of 7,550 feet (2,300 meters).

Approximately 121 acres (49 hectares) are planted with coffee cultivars at elevations ranging from 4,100 feet (1,250 meters) to 4,850 feet (1,480 meters). The lot "El Monguito" ("The Small Mango Tree"), shown in pale yellow on the map, lies at the highest elevations on the property and represents a unique microclimate with diverse shade trees, tropical rainforest conditions, and is irrigated by natural spring waters. This area of 57 acres (23 hectares) is dedicated to the special Pacamara Bandeira coffees.

Finca Property and House

Roberto Hawit Castro purchased the property in 1965, and dedicated the next 40 years to grow, expand and perfect the coffee business, culminating in top recognition for his coffees in Cup of Excellence® competitions. His wife Cristina de Hawit and their sons Raúl and Munir Hawit assumed management of Finca Santa Marta when Roberto Hawit passed away in 2004. The Finca operates year round with 31 employees, with daily operations supervised by Juan Rodriguez (who has worked with the Hawit family for 18 years) and technical expertise provided by Ing. Silvio Zepeda. During the harvest season, from January to March, staffing increases to 150 workers.

Finca Santa Marta Facts

Shade Trees

Four Generations of Coffee Artisans

Brothers Raúl and Munir Hawit

The Hawit Chirinos family has been in the coffee business for four generations.

The family’s history within the coffee world in Honduras actually started almost 20 years prior to the acquisition of Finca Santa Marta, when Benjamin Caballero – grandfather of Cristina de Hawit - pioneered coffee growing in the highlands of the Santa Barbara region in northwestern Honduras.

In 1965, Roberto Hawit Castro purchased the land today known as Finca Santa Marta in the village of Tegucigalpita, municipality of Victoria, State of Yoro. Roberto Hawit Castro and Cristina Chirinos Caballero married in 1967.

During subsequent years, Roberto Hawit continued to integrate and expand vertically within the coffee business, commercializing coffee around the country. From the beginning the Hawit vision was to continue and expand with plantations of smaller production but intensely oriented to a high quality cup, planting varieties like Bourbon and Caturra on land that was, at the time of its purchase, sparsely planted with the Typica varietal. At the same time, and with the goal of maintaining quality and also increasing productivity, the varietal Catuaí rojo was added to the other coffees.

Pacamara Varietal

The breeding of this hybrid was masterminded inside the Genetic Department of the Salvadoran Institute for Coffee Research (ISIC) in 1958 when the institute began a coffee breeding improvement program using hybridization among many varieties. One of these experiments produced an outstanding hybrid by artificially crossing the Pacas and Red Maragogipe varietals at their fourth generation. It was named PACAMARA using the first four letters of each parent.

The transition towards premium quality coffee continued when a family friend Mr. L. Tiraboschi convinced Roberto Hawit to start with a new varietal, not known in Honduras at the time, Pacamara coffee. The first Pacamara seedlings where planted strategically at 1,400 meters (4,600 feet), the highest elevation of Finca Santa Marta, which ensures unique microclimate conditions and irrigation by natural spring waters from the top of the mountain. The first lot of Pacamara coffee was sold in 1999 to Illycaffe.

The brand name "Bandeira" for the Pacamara coffee was conceived in honor of Padre Fernando Bandeira, a long time family friend from Spain, who always inspired Roberto Hawit in his endeavours at the Finca as they provided work for the villagers of nearby Tegucigalpita. In 2000, when Padre Bandeira passed away, the family adopted the name and Pacamara Bandeira coffee was born.

Coffee cherries

Pacamara Bandeira Wins Prestigious Cup of Excellence®

Cup of Excellence

The Cup of Excellence is the most esteemed award given out for top coffees. These awards come from a strict competition that selects the very best coffee produced in that country for that particular year. These winning coffees are chosen by a select group of national and international cuppers and are cupped at least five different times during the competition process. The final winners are awarded the prestigious Cup of Excellence® and sold to the highest bidder during an Internet auction.

What makes these coffees so special?

Coffees of this exemplary quality are very rare. These coffees are perfectly ripe, carefully picked with well-developed body, pleasant aroma and a lively sweetness that only extremely high quality specialty coffees contain. Each winning coffee has its own flavor signature from the earth where it grows and all have been handcrafted in such a way as to enhance these unique characteristics.

Why is Cup of Excellence® important?

For the roasters and importers who support Cup of Excellence this program has often introduced to their businesses a new demographic of customers who are appreciative of top quality and willing to pay a premium for it. For consumers the Cup of Excellence award label is a guarantee that this is top coffee that has been judged by professional cuppers to be the best. The payment to the coffee farmers for their coffee is more than Fair, and their monetary reward often changes the lives of their entire family and the rural communities where they live.

The vision and passion of Roberto Hawit has been recognized and applauded by the national and international coffee community. During the crop years of 2003-2004, Finca Santa Marta participated in its first ever Honduran Cup of Excellence® (COE) and placed among the top coffees for auction.

Two years later, after Robert Hawit passed away and his wife Cristina and their two older children Raúl and Munir Hawit assumed the management of Finca Santa Marta, the success and recognition of their Pacamara coffee continued. During the crop years of 2005-2006, Finca Santa Marta participated for a second time in the COE and its Pacamara Bandeira coffee won 1st place.

Finca Santa Marta 2006 COE Facts

The national and internation cuppers who cupped and judged the 33 coffees at the 2006 Honduran COE described the Pacamara Bandeira from Finca Santa Marta as follows: "Most exciting, danced in the mouth, smooth cabernet Sauvignon, floral fragrance, peach aftertaste, consistent from hot to cold, caramel aroma, effervescent acidity, ripe fruit like pears, symphony of nice flavors, Kenya like-jasmine, grape chocolate, berry, well balanced spicy, savory."

Pacamara Cupping Notes

The World Barista Championship

For the competition, Ana Lucia made all three drinks (espresso, cappuccino and her signature drink) using a Pacamara Bandeira coffee that won the 2006 COE. Ana Lucia Hawit competed with Terra Keramik espresso and cappuccino cups and small dinner plates.

Environment and Community

Finca Santa Marta is located on the outskirts of Pico Pijol, which was declared a National Park and Forest Reserve by the Honduran Government. Finca Santa Marta in its efforts to be in tune with national conservation efforts changed it washing methods and management of waste accordingly in its wet mill. Additionally professional forest management and conservation methods are in place to protect the trees where there are crops and where new crops are being planned, more than 200 hardwood trees.

Finca management is committed to social responsibility and supports the local community. The village of Tegucigalpita, which comprises approximately 60 families, lies on grounds that were donated by the Hawit family. The land for the community school was also a donation. The Hawit family built access roads to substantially reduce the travel time between the vilage and the Finca. Road maintenance is provided by the Finca.

Information about the Pacamara coffee varietal can be found in “Exploring Distinctive Characteristics & Virtues of Coffee Varieties: The Bourbon & Pacamara Case”, written by the Salvadoran Coffee Council

More information about the Cup of Excellence at www.cupofexcellence.org