Lempira is home to the majority of the country’s native ”Lenca” population (the indigenous Indians of Honduras) and boasts of some of the most temperate and fertile land in Central America. The average daily temperature is between 76-87 degrees Fahrenheit, with nightly averages of 60-67 degrees. The climate and rainfall is lush and tropical, ideal for coffee, as well as an assortment of papaya, coconut, avocado, mango, lime, guava and other productive trees.

Lempira is rugged, and it is relatively isolated from the rest of the country. The highest mountain peak in Honduras, Cerro las Minas, is in Lempira. Due to these conditions, as well as the agrarian lifestyle of the Lencas, Lempira produces some of the world’s finest high altitude cloud forest coffee. The area is picturesque with abundant pristine mountain water and air, with breath-taking cloud forest views.

In 1998, Hurricane Mitch caused such massive and widespread loss that former Honduran President Carlos Roberto Flores claimed that fifty years of progress in the country were reversed. Mitch obliterated about 70% of the crops and an estimated 70-80% of the transportation infrastructure, including nearly all bridges and secondary roads. This rare micro-lot Honduras Organic Marcala is the second coffee from the region to arrive in my shop in 11 years. This is a very unusual coffee - in the cup there is an aroma of very strong sassafras root with mild cherry. Brewed, a very powerful cup with unusual body and character. I highly recommend you try this for yourself!