This is the third coffee we've bought from Katia Duke this year, and the last. The first was her anaerobic red honey, which came off our cupping table tasting like a churro, and the second was a Yellow Obata natural, four bags for the entire harvest, sorted by hand at her kitchen table. This one is her straight washed lot, Catuai and Catimor from San Isidro, and of the three it's the cleanest, clearest look at the farm itself.

San Isidro sits about fifteen minutes outside Ruinas de Copán at 1,300 meters, which isn't especially high for Honduras. What Katia has instead is a small canyon, where air moving between the trees keeps things cool and lets the cherry ripen slowly. Her pickers take only ripe fruit, and she gives them the credit for that before she'll take any herself. Some of her crew have been with her since 2012, her first harvest running the farm, including María Elena, who leads the field teams and trains every new picker who comes through.

During harvest Katia decides how to process each week's cherry, and the weather does most of the deciding. A hot, dry stretch is when naturals can go out on the beds. When it rains, she washes. For a washed lot like this one, that means the cherry is pulped, the beans sit in water tanks while fermentation breaks down the sticky layer of fruit, and then everything gets rinsed clean and dried on raised beds. It's the most dependable way to handle coffee when the weather won't cooperate, and it lets everything the farm grew come through clean.

We roasted it light and found it warm and sweet in a way that suits the season. Sticky date pudding and spiced apple cider lead, with caramel apple, toffee, and a little malted chocolate behind them. Creamy and smooth, soft acidity, clean all the way through.

Producer: Katia Duke, San Isidro
Region: Copán, Honduras
Altitude: 1,300 MASL
Variety: Catuai, Catimor
Processing Method: Full Washed