Counter Culture started purchasing coffee from Finca Pashapa in 2002, but it was several seasons before we met anyone from the Salazar family, proprietors of Finca Pashapa. In 2008, we took a trip to western Honduras to visit the family and the farm. Over the years our businesses have shifted and expanded, but we always find a way to work together, making it our longest-standing partnership.
Having been leaders in sustainable agriculture practices since the inception of the farm, the Salazars took a major step forward in quality innovation when they began cultivating non-traditional coffee varieties. We first tasted their variety separations in 2016. The Bourbon variety selection was far and away our favorite and is consistently the best coffee they produce.
Bourbon was one of the coffee seeds taken from the forests of Southwestern Ethiopia for cultivation in Yemen. From there, the variety spread around the world, first landing in the Americas in 1860 in Brazil. Its susceptibility to disease has caused it to fall out of production favor in Latin America, but for farmers willing to work through the challenge, the quality payoff is high.
The sweetness found in this very small selection of Bourbon from Finca Pashapa is the perfect illustration of why we love this variety. The coffee has sweet notes of brown sugar and almond.
