Rootbeer Float | Grevil Sabillon ~ Parainema | Santa Bárbara, Honduras

Producer

Grevil farms alongside his wife Hildaly Leiva, where they both produce excellent examples of Parainema (and we buy from both each year).

Variety

It all started in 2010 when a research institution in Costa Rica gave a specific selection of a cross between Villa Sarchi x Timor Hybrid (then called T-5296) to the Honduras coffee institute. The intention with this hybrid was for its resistance to coffee leaf rust and certain nematode infestations (something of great relevance to farmers in Honduras, especially when intercropping with bananas – whose nematodes interfere with coffee plant roots).

Meanwhile, likely around the time that IHCAFE (The Honduran Coffee Institute) was releasing the seeds for farmers to plant, Hildaly’s neighbour Eulogio (known as Yoyo for short) got what he thought was Pacamara seeds from the Honduran Coffee Institute. Over the next few years, Yoyo shared these seeds with his neighbours and they also started to plant them.

In the subsequent years, various buyers would visit, and were perplexed at this ‘paca-weirdo’ (an affectionate colloquial term we all used at the time). It was harvested when the fruit was deep purple, and the fruit looked oblong and pacamara-like to be sure, but the end of each fruit would sort of stick out a bit and other inconsistencies just made us all wonder.

By the time 2015 rolled around, Yoyo would take 1st place with his “Pacamara”, but IHCAFE revealed that it must have been a miscommunication or a typo because this weird and wonderful variety was Parainema after all.

Processing

Parainema coffee fruit is best harvested beyond the normal red-ripe colour to where it has turned a deeper purple colour. Much is the case with other similar hybrid varieties that include some Robusta-Arabica hybrid parentage, such as Castillo in Colombia.

Once picked, the coffee fruit is bagged in tulas, nylon bags, and trucked down the road to Grevil and Hildaly’s home, where Hilly is responsible for processing. The coffee is depulped using a small hand-pulper with an attached motor, and the seeds are transferred to a concrete tank for the fermentation step. Fermentation is carried out over about 18-24hours, without water, which is common for washed processing in Santa Barbara, as well as in cacao fermentation. Hildaly determines when the fermentation is complete by accessing that the mucilage has broken down and will be easily washed away. She washes the seeds and transfers them to raised beds under a parabolic dryer for about 14 days.