If you were to ask Benjamin Paz what his job description is, you would get a range of answers, from coffee producer, relationship manager, coffee shop and roastery owner, and direct support for a multitude of other coffee producers in the Santa Bárbara region of Honduras. Benjamin’s family business Beneficio San Vicente exports coffee for hundreds of producers, as well as facilitating our purchasing relationships in Honduras.

Geisha from Benjamin’s farm Finca La Salsa took first place in the 2022 Honduras Cup of Excellence competition. We still remember the first time we tasted Benjamin’s Geisha variety, which he included on a cupping table for us when we were together at San Vicente. Both then and now, this coffee was outstanding, with tropical fruit flavors and a floral bouquet, all speaking to Benjamin’s care and dedication to not just his farm’s coffee, but coffee from Santa Bárbara. This year, Benjamin processed this lot with an anaerobic washed process, intensifying some of the peach and stonefruit flavors that can be typical of the Geisha variety, while preserving all of the wonderful floral flavors.

In the cup, we find sweet stonefruit like peach and nectarine, a lively citric and sweet acidity, as well as characteristic floral aromas of jasmine.