Mirra - Nelson Vallecillo - Paraneima - Washed - Honduras 250g

Roasted 2/25

Sourced directly—with the help of Benjamin Paz himself—this washed paraneima from Nelson Vallecillo of Finca La Herencia is hands-down one of the very best Honduran coffees we can recollect having. It offers up an unusually refined fruit-forward cup with an abundance of pink raspberry, tart yellow cherry, and herbaceous thai basil—absolutely bright, clean, and delicious.

Nelson is one of several members of the Vallecillo family producing stunning lots in the Santa Barbara region of Honduras, and he and his siblings are third-generation coffee farmers. Located at 1.600 masl, Nelson’s farm, La Herencia, is only 1.2 hectares in size, making the meticulous care of his stock more manageable. Mr. Vallecillo only grows paraneima trees on his farm, and we think that this streamlined, focused, pared-down approach to coffee cultivation has definitely paid off, and is immediately evident in the quality and uniqueness of this lot.

Paraneima is a pedigree selection of T5296 (also known as sarchimor), which was initially released by the Honduran Institute of Coffee in 2004, and is still primarily cultivated in Honduras. Sarchimor, in turn, is a family of varieties whose genetics consist of a cross between villa sarchi (a natural dwarf mutation of bourbon) and timor hybrid (a natural cross between C. arabica and C. canephora). Other varieties in this family include obata and tupi (most prominent in Brazil), cuscatleco (most prominent in El Salvador), and limani (most prominent in Puerto Rico). Due to its partial robusta genetics, it is relatively resistant to coffee berry disease and leaf rust.

All coffee is sold whole-bean to reduce oxidation, and increase the longevity of volatile organic compounds.