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The Coffee Atlas
Honduras El Paraiso
Honduras El Paraiso, the small southern department on the Nicaraguan border known for Danli Parainema, with sourced altitude, harvest and cupping data.
Flavor profile
avg. of 1 published reviewScale: 1-10, Coffee Review / SCA-classic-form convention. This is a single Coffee Review score, not an average: the only Coffee Review lot found whose title names El Paraiso ('Honduras El Praiso', Atomic Cafe Coffee Roasters, May 2013, 91 points, medium-dark roast). The review text itself does not state a department, farm, altitude, or variety, so the El Paraiso attribution rests on the roaster's listing title alone. Several other Coffee Review Honduran lots were checked and excluded because their stated origins are elsewhere (Corquin, Santa Barbara, Siguatepeque, Santa Elena, Marcala). One lot from Guinope (Finca Paraiso El Aguacate, Small Eyes Cafe, Dec 2022, 93 points) is in El Paraiso Department but is not blended into these numbers; it is cited in the body as a comparison. One roaster lot, one year, one roast level: treat these scores as a rough illustration of the shape of a cup, not a regional profile.
What it tastes like
El Paraiso is Honduras’s southern border department, running up against Nicaragua, one of the six coffee regions Perfect Daily Grind describes, where it notes the reputation is growing. That reputation rests largely on one variety: Parainema, a rust-resistant Sarchimor hybrid that took first place at the 2017 Cup of Excellence with El Laurel, a washed lot from Danli at 1,400 meters that scored 91.81. The judges’ notes there ran to green apple, jasmine, bergamot, lemon peel, and peach over crisp, citric acidity.
That citric, floral shape is the regional pitch, but the evidence on file is thin and worth stating plainly. The one Coffee Review lot titled for the department, Honduras El Praiso (2013), is a medium-dark roast reading as cedar, flowers, plum, and dark chocolate with a syrupy body, a deeper, rounder cup than the Cup of Excellence notes suggest, and the review never names a farm or variety. A Guinope Parainema from 2022 scored 93 with toffee, Bing cherry, cedar, and candied violet, which sits between the two. Roast level and lot selection clearly matter more than the department name.
Read El Paraiso, then, as a place to look for washed Parainema from Danli, Guinope, and nearby municipalities when you want a brighter, more floral Honduran cup than the chocolate-and-nut profile of Copan or Marcala. For the variety itself, see the Parainema entry.
How to brew it
Method fit for this origin · editorial guidance from roaster convention
The citric, floral profile described for Danli Parainema lots is the kind of clarity a filter brew is usually chosen to show.
The round acidity and syrupy body in the one Coffee Review lot suit a medium-dark espresso, though bright floral lots can read sharp under pressure.
Immersion suits the heavy body reported in the review, but it blurs the floral top notes that make the better lots distinct.
⚠ Fit tiers are editorial guidance drawn from roaster convention; no industry standard scores brew fit, so we show tiers, never invented numbers. Reflects brew guidance commonly published by specialty roasters for washed, citric Honduran Parainema lots, not an SCA-defined standard.
Altitude & region
Growing elevation, meters above sea level · this entry vs comparison bands
Honduras El Paraiso's 1,000-1,400 m is Perfect Daily Grind's regional figure (see Sources & data). Honduras Copan and Honduras Marcala use the ranges already published in their own Atlas entries, and Brazil Cerrado uses the typical range used elsewhere in this Atlas; all three are shown for scale only, not as lot-specific measurements.
Caffeine content
Caffeine by dry weight · each gold dot = 0.1%
Caffeine content tracks species, not origin, altitude, or processing: Robusta beans contain almost twice as much caffeine as Arabica (see Sources & data). El Paraiso lots are Arabica, including the Parainema hybrid, which is traded as Arabica; no credible per-origin caffeine figure exists at a category level, so the comparison is by species only.
Where to buy it
Transparency: some links on this site are affiliate links; if you buy through them we may earn a commission at no cost to you. Roasters are picked for genuine, current sourcing of this coffee, never for who pays us.
Roaster (formerly Spirit Animal Coffee) that lists Honduran Parainema lots; check the listing for the current farm and region, as it may not be from El Paraiso.
View lot→Has listed the Finca Paraideli Danli Cup of Excellence 2022 Parainema lot; auction lots sell out, so check current availability.
View lot→Wide selection but most Honduran bags name only the country; look for El Paraiso or Danli on the label, and check roast dates and seller reviews.
View lot→Sources & data
- Coffee Review: Honduras El Praiso, Atomic Cafe Coffee RoastersMay 2013 cupping scores and tasting notes (1 of 1 used); the review does not itself state the department
- Coffee Review: Honduras Paraiso El Aguacate Parainema, Small Eyes CafeDec 2022 review of a Guinope lot at 1,300 m (Guinope is in El Paraiso Department); cited in the body, not averaged
- Perfect Daily Grind: Introducing the 6 Coffee Regions of HondurasEl Paraiso location, 1,000-1,400 m elevation, 2017 Cup of Excellence mention, growing regional reputation
- Cup of Excellence Farm Directory: El Laurel, Honduras 20171st place, 91.81 points, Parainema, washed, 1,400 m, Danli municipality, El Paraiso Department; judges' notes
- Cropster/FireScope: Honduras La Rosa Parainema WashedA 2024 washed Parainema from Moroceli, El Paraiso at 1,412 m (altitude data point only)
- Sigma Coffee: Honduras El Laurel Parainema WashedRoaster listing for the Danli lot; basis for the Jan-Mar harvest window (one 2025 example, so indicative only)
- Wikipedia: GuinopeConfirms Guinope is a municipality of El Paraiso Department
- Atlas: ParainemaThis site's own entry on the variety, including its Sarchimor breeding
- Crozier et al.: Espresso coffees, caffeine and chlorogenic acid intake (Food & Function, 2012)Peer-reviewed (Univ. of Glasgow): robusta beans contain almost twice as much caffeine as arabica, by species