This coffee is a Pacamara variety grown by Guillermo Tercero at his farm, El Tesoro, located in the Montecillos mountain range of Honduras at 1750 meters altitude. The coffee is processed using a multi-stage fermentation method involving 36 hours in bags, followed by 40 hours of fermentation after depulping, and a final water soak. It features a bright and juicy profile with tasting notes of pomegranate, apricot, sugary sweetness, rhubarb, and spruce.
Rebecca Grossman and Lucas Smith founded Ilse in 2019, starting with a thousand dollars and a rented roaster in Stamford before building out their own facility in a converted mechanic's garage in North Canaan. The approach is quality-driven: light roasts, single-producer microlots, and a commitment to buying entire harvests from the same farms year after year, some relationships now stretch back to the beginning. Pricing is transparent; each bag lists what the producer was paid, the FOB price, and Ilse's cost. Sourcing focuses on Central and South America and East Africa, with Costa Rica, Honduras, Colombia, and Ethiopia appearing regularly.
