Caballero Francisca is a Honduran coffee from Candycane Coffee, which offers a rich sweetness of raisins and nougat in the cup, complemented by an unexpectedly playful hint of Piña Colada. The natural processing of the Catuai variety allows it to showcase its full potential, resulting in a complex, well-structured, and pleasantly sweet cup.
Behind this coffee are Marysabel Caballero and Moises Herrera, who are among the most experienced specialty coffee producers in Honduras. On their farms in the Marcala region, at an elevation of 1, 600 meters above sea level, they focus on precision at every stage—from soil care and variety selection to processing and drying. Marcala is one of the cooler, higher-altitude regions in Honduras, which allows producers to work with slower-ripening cherries and experiment with more challenging processing methods. Thanks to a long-standing partnership with the Norwegian company Nordic Approach and a constant focus on quality, the Caballero family’s coffees regularly rank among the most interesting lots from the entire region, and this lot is part of a carefully curated collection from several of their farms.
Caballero Francisca undergoes natural (dry) processing, in which the cherries remain whole after harvest and are dried directly in the sun without prior hulling. Over the course of several weeks of drying, sugars from the pulp gradually permeate the bean, which is clearly reflected in the cup’s sweetness and full-bodied profile. It is precisely this process that is responsible for the distinctive sweetness for which this lot is so highly prized.