Stonecutter Coffee Series: Grasia Maria Peñalba Honey Process- NEW!

Our Stonecutter Coffee is a rotating highlight series - a tribute to the rich history of Deer Isle-Stonington's granite quarrying industry that peaked in the early 1900s. These beans are selected for their "je ne sais quoi" and often come to us from unique coffee producing regions of the world, embracing inventive processing methods, and/or out of this world flavor from small farms. Limited amounts available, changing frequently, and now packaged in our one of a kind Stonecutter 10 oz. coffee tubes! These are the coffees that currently excite us a micro-roasters.

These tubes are a new package adventure for us. Designed and hand drawn by Deer Isle local Farrell Ruppert, they feature the slabs of granite quarried out of Stonington. Made of 100% FSC certified paper, soy ink, with gold foiled accents and a sticker of the current origin inside. For every tube made, a portion of profits are donated to One Tree Planted.

Grasia Maria Peñalba is the daughter of the General Manager & Founder, Rodolfo Peñalba, of COMSA in Marcala, Honduras. Rodolfo revolutionized organic coffee production in Marcala back in the early 2000s when conventional coffee was the norm. Everyone thought he was crazy when talked about the importance of nourishing the soil, the plants, the people and the community and not just focusing on yield and export. 

Fast forward 24 years later and COMSA has grown exponentially, as the largest green bean processor in Marcala. Most of Rodolfo’s children either work for COMSA or in the coffee industry, which really is a testament to what they have built at COMSA. Youth in Honduras can see a future in coffee. The coffee farming industry in general is seeing a large drop-off of youth and women. It is very hard work and most youth are leaving coffee producing countries in search of more opportunities and money elsewhere. The fact that Grasia works at COMSA alongside her parents and has grown up at COMSA, her brother Joe oddly enough, works with Wicked Joe in Falmouth (small world right!?) really speaks to the opportunities COMSA is providing for the next generations.

Grasia was our COMSA tour guide while Alix & other Coop Coffee members were in Honduras. Gracious, silly, and kind, she embodies the warmth and supportive community that COMSA has built throughout the region. “We are family,” she said after Alix asked about all the family farm dinners they attended while visiting. Alix figured they were hosting us because we were the American and Canadians buying their coffee. No, family farm dinners with all the coffee farmers is the norm. Community and support within COMSA is standard. Rodlofo and Grasia exude warmth, support, and acceptance, and a true joy and passion for their community and coffee.

Grasia added sparkle to our trip. We all instantly hit it off and she made us feel part of the family right away. Sneaky as she was, she never mentioned that she was growing her own coffee! We toured her mother’s farm, her family’s farms, but she not once said she was growing her own coffee plants!! So Alix and fellow Honduras travelers were shocked to see her name on our microlot availability list this season. She only had 15 bags available and we snagged up 2 as fast as possible.

Perhaps because she downplayed it, ie didn’t tell us, Alix had lower expectations, and shouldn’t have!! This honey process coffee is STELLAR! Just delicious! Sweet and smooth, balanced and nuanced. It does not disappoint at any roast temperature. Our friends over at Conscious Coffees in CO, roasted it super light, so Alix pulled really light samples, literally seconds after first crack, just for fun! And then took it to a proper medium roast, again so good! We landed on a slightly more medium light roasted coffee. The body was just too good to pass up at this final end roast temp. Nicely balanced and sweet, the body is yum. You will say that when you take your first sip - yum! Honey processed coffee is where the outer coffee cherry fruit is removed, but the inner sticky, sweet, fruit parts, ie muscilage, is left intact during the drying phase. This makes for a super sweet cup of coffee with a mild fruitiness. We landed on tasting notes of honey oats, brown sugar, and red apple. Sweet, cozy, warming, exactly like Grasia and exactly what you want in a hot cuppa as the temperatures cool here into the Fall season of Maine.

Make sure to grab a cup or bags of Grasia’s beautiful coffee. We know we will be drinking many!

If you didn’t get a chance to read about Alix's trip to Honduras (or Melissa’s trip to Ethiopia) make sure to check out our Blog posts 44northcoffee.com/blogs/news

Location: Marcala, Honduras. Coffee growing altitude = 3,987- 5,249 feet above sea level.

Farmer Cooperative: La Perla Azul - Grasia’s Farm and processed as part of Café Orgánico Marcala (COMSA)

Latitude: 14º North

Certified Organic, Fair Trade & Small Producer

All tubes come Whole Bean. For ground beans please select "Ground" and specify your brew method in the "Special Instructions" box in the lower left corner on the Cart page. Default grind is drip.

Not available for recurring subscription due to limited quantity.