Honduran bean counters want to lift coffee quality

By GUSTAVO PALENCIA

LA FE, HONDURAS - Olvin Castellanos, the son of a small coffee producer from a remote, mountainous region of Honduras, takes a noisy swig of coffee and swirls it around his mouth as he judges the flavour, aroma and quality of the bean.

Castellanos, 25, from the Aguila region in the east of the Central American nation, is one of 22 students in the country's first coffee-tasting school.

The School of Coffee-Tasters is part of a plan to improve the tarnished image of the country's coffee industry and to cash in on refined global tastes for gourmet brews by offering higher-quality beans.

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