Origin guideCentral America
Honduras Honduran speciality coffee
Honduras is Central America’s largest coffee producer. Most of it is grown by smallholders on steep, high farms spread across six regions, and the country’s best lots now stand alongside the finest in the region.
The field notes
Honduras at a glance
- Harvest
November – April
- Production
About 5.5 million 60 kg bags (2025/26)
- Main regions
Copán · Opalaca · Montecillos · Comayagua · El Paraíso · Agalta
- Common varietals
Catuaí · Caturra · Pacas · Typica · Lempira · IHCAFE 90
Production figures: USDA Foreign Agricultural Service estimates for 2025/26, published July 2026.
When is it harvested, and how is it processed? See our guide to coffee harvesting and processing.
Chapter 01The story
History of coffee in Honduras
Coffee is thought to have reached Honduras in the 18th century, carried in by trading ships. For a long time, though, it played second fiddle. Through the 19th and early 20th centuries the country’s economy was built around bananas, grown largely by foreign fruit companies for export.
Coffee farming only took off on a large scale in the second half of the 20th century. In 1970 the government set up the Instituto Hondureño del Café (IHCAFE) to support the growing industry, and it still leads research, training and quality work with farmers across the country today.
Chapter 02Resilience
Setbacks and recovery
Honduran coffee has had to rebuild more than once. In 1998 Hurricane Mitch devastated the country, destroying an estimated 70% of its agriculture.
Then, from 2010, coffee leaf rust spread through Central America, peaking in 2012. IHCAFE responded with an early-warning system to help farmers act before outbreaks took hold, and many farms were replanted. That renovation paid off: by 2016/17 Honduras was producing record volumes.
Chapter 03Today
Coffee in Honduras today
Around 95% of Honduras’s coffee growers are smallholders. Since the early 2000s the industry has put quality first, driven in large part by a younger generation of producers who share knowledge and sell directly to buyers abroad. In 2017, a Honduran Cup of Excellence lot sold for US$124.50 a pound.
Processing has improved too, with more centralised wet mills, mechanical dryers and, increasingly, solar dryers that help protect coffee from the rain.
Our Mascot Espresso comes from the Las Capucas cooperative in Honduras.
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