Finca Santa Lucia

For October, we’re excited to welcome a new roastery to the Rare family: Origin Coffee Roasters in Cornwall, UK!

Origin has been known as one of the leading coffee roasteries in the UK for quite some time now and in addition to their specialty line up, their team at the quality control tend to buy in some absolute gems – coffees that are amongst “must drinks” right now

The coffee we feature from them is no other than one of the most impressive Honduran coffees we have ever had in the Rare cupping table! It’s a washed Gesha from Finca Santa Lucia in Comayagua region, Honduras.

The farm is run by the esteemed Mierisch Family who have become known for their incredible coffees from their farms both in Nicaragua and Honduras. Coffees from Santa Lucia only have been in the top places of the Honduran Cup Of Excellence and their coffees have been the number 1 winners in both 2019 and 2021.

The Miersich family started to grow coffee in 1908. The Mierisch family only started to produce specialty coffee until 21 years ago when Senior Erwin Mierisch, the son of Dr. Erwin Miersich, was translating in a Nicaraguan coffee competition. That’s when the family legend grew even further. The Mierisch family own 3 farms in Honduras and 11 farms in Nicaragua across all family members.

The family came across Javanica seeds from a guy randomly selling them on the street. They were very suspicious first but then decided to give it a try. Little did they know, these javanica seeds are very floral with a lot of complexity. The Mierisch family learnt that by separating the lots in a particular area can really boost its quality and better farm management. Their focus on cup quality really started to grow after purchasing the Javanica seeds.

All the coffee trees in Nicaragua and Hondura farms are crafted with Robusta roots. By doing so, it increases the consistency and resiliency of the coffee trees, yet it doesn’t compromise the coffee flavour profile. It is proven by Honduras Cup of Excellence in 2019. The Gesha variety from Santa Lucia farm won 1st place by scoring 94.84.

Both Senior Erwin and Eleane Mierisch are head judges from Cup of Excellence, a coffee competition that empowers coffee producers in many coffee producing countries. Because of their experiences in many different countries and their connections with the professional, their brough those valuable knowledge into processing coffee.

Santa Lucia is the second Honduran farm Mierisch family purchased in 2014. Even though the farm was abandoned when purchased, the Mierisch family saw a lot of potential in this farm. Fortunately, it already had the necessary infrastructure for coffee cultivation: shade trees and wind breakers. This makes it easier to grow new varieties since it has the barriers in place. After analysing the potential of Santa Lucia, the Mierisch family decided to only plant rare varieties like gesha and laurina.
Such a careful assessment led to tremendous results, in 2019, Santa Lucia’ washed Gesha won first place in Cup of Excellence Honduras. A huge achievement for young coffee trees. This also assured the coffee quality that was produced by the Mierisch family.

Farm: Finca Santa Lucia
Farmer: The Mierisch Family
Location: Comayagua
Altitude: 1550 masl.
Cultivar: Gesha
Process: Washed