Fintrac Specialty Coffee Program in Honduras Achieves Its Goals;
Sector Positioned for Sustained Growth

San Pedro Sula, Honduras (July 19th, 2004) - Since 2001, Fintrac's Center for Developing Agribusiness (Fintrac/CDA) in Honduras has played a key role in developing the nationâs specialty coffee sector through enhancing local capacity in coffee cupping, raising the international reputation of Honduran coffee quality, and helping to organize international cupping competitions that expose quality Honduran coffee to buyers worldwide. Technical assistance provided to Fintrac specialty coffee clients has helped them improve the quality of their coffee as well as enable them to more efficiently assess and market the product they produce. Fintrac's efforts have paid off as the quality of clientsâ coffee, producersâ cupping ability, and international exposure have increased tremendously since the program began. Most importantly, clients have begun to make sales to respected specialty coffee companies and buyers.

Recently, several Fintrac specialty coffee clients participated in Hondurasâ first Cup of Excellence competition. The internationally renowned event brought a group of international coffee tasters to Honduras to judge over 60 samples of the country's finest coffees. After careful consideration, Gregorio Martinez, a Fintrac client from the small town of El Pezote in the department of Lempira, was selected as the winner. Mr. Martinez's received the highest score in the history of a Cup of Excellence competition and an unprecedented six perfect scores. One European judge claimed that he had "never tasted anything similar anywhere else in the world". Other judges described the coffee as "floral", "rich", and possessing essences of "ripe mango" and "passion fruit". The astounding result culminated in an online auction in which Mr. Martinezâs coffee sold 10 bags of coffee for $13 dollars a pound for a total value of $19,500. No other coffee from Central American has garnered as high a price this year. Several other Fintrac clients placed highly in the competition and secured contracts with international buyers. The success of the competition will undoubtedly enhance Honduras' position and image throughout the global specialty coffee community as the buyers and judges were extremely pleased with the competition and the coffee. A Brazilian judge claimed that the competition will "promote a tremendous country image for Honduras".

One of Fintrac CDA's initial goals when working with the Honduras specialty coffee industry was to identify local and international companies who would participate in the farm-to-market chain, be willing to pay premium prices to the growers, and take the lead in promoting Honduran specialty coffee internationally. To promote the sector, Fintrac CDA organized a Honduran coffee tour for specialty coffee buyers in February 2003 and the country's first national cupping competition in May 2003. One of the world's largest specialty coffee buyers, Volcafe Specialty Coffee, participated in the initial tour. As Ricardo Pineda, Fintrac CDA's Processing Manager explains: "We showed Tim Chapdelaine (Volcafe) not only the best Honduran coffees and coffee farms, but its people, history and culture. After this trip we sold our first two containers of specialty coffee. One trip was all that was needed to spark this activity. Today, Tim Chapdelaine of Volcafe is one of the best ambassadors for Honduran coffee." These promotional activities helped spark initial interest in Honduras and laid the foundation for larger events such as the Cup of Excellence.

Cupping training and assistance have been a crucial portion of Fintracâs assistance to the Honduran specialty coffee sector. As Ricardo Pineda explains: "In order to enter into the specialty coffee market, growers must be able to talk the same language as the buyers, and this language is 'cupping'!" As a first step, Fintrac CDA installed two coffee cupping laboratories in two different regions of Honduras and provided training in international cupping techniques and scoring systems from one of the world's foremost master cuppers, Willem Boot. Trainees included staff from exporting companies, local roasters, government institutions, and coffee cooperatives. The new ability to cup coffee for quality attributes raised expectations and growers began sending their coffees to be cupped in the laboratories while others became interested in learning how to cup. The Honduras Coffee Institute (IHCAFE) cuppers, who were initially trained by CDA, received further training and began providing cupping courses themselves. IHCAFE continues to provide this training throughout the country.

Additionally, in order to make cupping accessible to all, Fintrac CDA developed a low-cost mini coffee cupping laboratory, enabling even the smallest and most remote rural communities and coffee cooperatives to adopt cupping practices. The basic equipment consists of a small roaster and grinder that costs only $48 dollars, together with two dozen glasses, spoons, and a coffee maker or a pot to heat water. The complete mini-cupping laboratory costs just $100. Mini-cupping labs have been installed by more than 30 coffee groups that provide services to more than 1,500 individual member growers. A cupping school has also recently been set up with funding and assistance from the Government of Spain. Honduras now has cuppers and cupping facilities meeting international standards - both of which will continue to provide sustainable cupping services to Honduran coffee growers.

While one of Fintrac CDA's main objectives in the specialty coffee sector was to create new and innovative programs that could contribute to economic development, including increased rural employment and farmer incomes, CDA was also looking to work with the most suitable players and systems to ensure continuity and sustainability post-project. In order for the shift of services to be successful and sustainable, it was necessary to involve government and private sector institutions in the program. Recently, CDA has transferred many of its specialty coffee activities to institutions, buyers, and local cooperatives, so that sustainability can be assured after the project ends. Fintrac's cupping activities, marketing, and farm-to-market chain activities have been taken over by institutions such as IHCAFE as well as exporters and buyers who benefit greatly from the improved quality and image of Honduran specialty coffee.