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Hera - Honduras Tierra Lenca

Hera - Honduras Tierra Lenca

Washed Honduras
We taste: Raspberry + pear + hazelnut + nectarine
Light roast whole bean coffee
$19.00 USD
$19.00 USD
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We use this coffee as one of our main espresso options!

Hera was an Olympian goddess in the Greek pantheon, known as the queen of the gods. She was thegoddess of marriage, family, childbirth, and women. Hera was the wife, and sister, of Zeus, and many of her most famous myths center around her jealous retributions to Zeus's infidelity.

  • Producers: Tierra Lenca Womens Coffee Group

    Farm/s: 18 Smallholder Women Producer Farms

    Average Farm Size: 1 - 1.5 HA

    Bag Size: 69 Kg Grainpro

    Region: Erandique, Lempira

    Altitude: 1,600 - 1,800 MSAL

    Variety: IH90, Catuai, Catimor, Bourbon

    Process: Fully Washed

    Drying Method: Raised Beds & Solar Dryers

    This is our first year sourcing and working with the Womens Group of Tierra Lenca, a socially driven group focused on preserving their Indigenous Lenca culture while driving the industry forward by empowering women to be in control of their coffee and support their hard work. The group is led by coffee grower/producer Aracely Martinez Gomez and is comprised of 18 women producers and their families in the villages of Tres Cruces, San Andres, La Mina, and Las Moras in Erandique, Lempira. The name “Tierra Lenca” derives from the Spanish word, Tierra which means "land", and Lenca which is representative of the largest tribal group of indigenous people that are native to this part of Honduras. They represent an estimated population of more than 450,000 people in Honduras.
    We are always open to coffees at every level that provoke thought and present opportunities to disrupt archaic and broken systems. When coffees like this pop up, we are always excited for the opportunity to provide meaningful connections to an amazing network of people on both sides of the supply chain who are out to create change utilizing coffee as that vehicle. Thanks to this program it gives women coffee producers in the Tierra Lenca Womens Group visibility and empowerment to be compensated fairly for their coffee and lay roots to cultivate better opportunities.
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GROWING PRACTICES

The indigenous Tierra Lenca group, is masterful when it comes to environmental conservation and agroforestry. The majority of coffee produced by the Tierra Lenca Womens group is grown beneath the shade and shadows provided by tree cover and a diversity of various fruit trees. These methods follow the traditional agroforestry system of the Lenca indigenous people which predates the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th-century. Agroforestry provides coffee plants shade from the sun, and ultimately reduces temperatures that result in a slower development of cherry maturation. In turn, this allows more time for sugars, lipids and favorable flavor compounds to develop in the cherry at a slower rate. Agroforestry has significant effects in reducing soil erosion and increasing the retention of soil humidity & moisture. Although Tierra Lenca coffee producers mainly rely on their income from their coffee production, they also diversify their income by also producing honey, grains, timber and various fruits to make a living.

TECHNICAL INFORMATION - PROCESSING

Since the drying process is carried out at each individual farm, the drying times used for post harvest drying varies from 14 to 21 days on average and generally depends on the micro climates and drying infrastructure at each farm. This coffee is picked and sorted by hand. Coffee cherry is soaked in the fermentation tank overnight and floaters are removed in order to select only dense and high quality cherry for processing. The next morning, it is depulped. Coffee is soaked in fermentation tanks again until the mucilage is easily removed, then dried on raised beds. Some farms may rely on sun patios to dry their coffees where others might utilize solar drying on raised beds.

IMPROVEMENT AND IMPACTING LIVES

The Tierra Lenca Womens group started in 2015 and has two main goals: to help women to strengthen their production management skills and to help empower them to improve their opportunities of where they sell their coffee to get paid better.

REGIONAL INFORMATION

Lempira is a department in western Honduras with secluded, rugged landscapes, including the tallest peak in Honduras, Cerro Las Minas. The department was named Gracias until 1943 and was used as an administrative center for Spaniards during colonial times. It was renamed Lempira for the Lenca cheiftan of the same name who fought the Spanish conquistadores in the 16th century. In pre-colonial periods, Lenca controlled a large territory that extended from Guatemala to present-day El Salvador in the region of the Lempa river. During the Spanish invasion, the Lenca organized a decade-long war of resistance led by the warrior chief Lempira (after whom the national currency of present-day Honduras is named).

The town of Erandique, Lempira is surrounded by pine and sweetgum forests. It serves as a coffee and grain collection and processing point for the higher-elevation villages in the area. It is also well known for its opal mines.