Honduras La Peña & Patepluma

Producers Denilson and Franklin Madrid
Farms La Peña and La Patepluma
Town San Luis Planes
Municipality Santa Bárbara
Department Santa Bárbara

Sun Exposure Mixed shade; majority avocado trees, afternoon shade from mountains
Farm Size 5ha at La Peña & 3.5ha at La Patepluma
Altitude 1,550-1,700 masl
Latitude 14.958607
Longitude -88.127292

Variety Pacas
Process Washed
Fermentation Blend of traditional washed and anaerobic; 48hr anaerobic whole cherry, pulped, and 48hr anaerobic in mucilage
Drying Solar dryers

Harvest Year 2026

Flavor Maple Syrup, Melon, Green Tea, Chamomile, Orange
Descriptors Syrupy, Creamy, Very Balanced

About this coffee We’ve been slowly learning the story of the Madrid family over the past three years, and it’s Denilson’s passion, infectious attitude, and ambition that ultimately led us to make our first purchase from the family this year. The Madrids are a fourth-generation coffee-growing family in Santa Bárbara, Honduras, with Denilson representing the newest generation, alongside his father Franklin, who has been producing coffee for decades. In 2003, Franklin was already selling microlots to Starbucks, and in 2004 he joined San Vicente and submitted his first coffee to the Cup of Excellence. Four years later, his Pacas lot, from El Sauce, won the 2008 Honduras Cup of Excellence. Denilson has since followed his father into specialty coffee, earning recognition of his own, including second place in the 2025 Honduras Cup of Excellence and fourth place in 2026 with a Pacas from his own farm, La Peña.

The family farms are spread across Santa Bárbara, with La Peña and La Patepluma roughly 20–25 kilometers apart. La Peña is a small, compact farm growing around two manzanas of Pacas, some Catuaí, Parainema, and more recently Pink Bourbon and Geisha, while Patepluma produces Pacas alongside a handful of other varieties. The family processes all of their coffees at their own wet mill, where their approach reflects both traditional Honduran methods and a willingness to experiment: La Peña Pacas is traditionally washed, while the Pacas from Patepluma was sealed in barrels for 48hrs in whole cherry, pulped, and then another 48hrs in mucilage. Both coffees were washed clean and dried in their solar dryers. Initially, these lots were separated, and cupped near identical, so to create a larger lot size, they were blended during milling to create a 5x bag lot for us.

The Madrid family are able to do this at their own dry mill, giving them full control of their products from start to finish. This is their second year dry milling their own microlots as well as commercial coffees.