Back-to-Back: Spirit Origin Wins the Top Lot at Honduras' Record-Breaking 2026 Cup of Excellence

We did it again. For the second year in a row, Spirit Origin Coffee has secured the 🏆 #1 ranked lot at the Cup of Excellence Honduras auction and this time, we made history at an auction that was itself historic, shattering the all-time record for average price paid for Honduran coffee.

Last year, we became the first company in Cup of Excellence history to win both the #1 and #2 lots and keep them at origin. This year, we're proving it wasn't a one-time miracle. It's a mission.

Meet the winning coffee

The 2026 Top Lot comes from Finca La Loma in the legendary hills of Santa Bárbara, Honduras grown by producer Ottoniel Sagastume Pineda, 45, whose dedication to his craft earned him the highest honor in Honduran coffee.

• Variety: Parainema
• Process: Natural
• Jury score: 89.14 points
• Lot size: just 529.11 lbs (8 boxes)
• Winning bid: $28.40 per pound — $15,026.72 for the lot

If you've tasted our Parainema before, you know why we fight for these lots. It's the variety that put Santa Bárbara on the specialty coffee map: syrupy sweetness, layered fruit, and a finish that keeps unfolding long after the cup is empty. A natural-process Parainema scoring 89+ is as rare as Honduran coffee gets.

Why this matters: the best of Honduras stays in Honduras

For decades, the story was always the same: the moment an extraordinary Honduran coffee won an award, it was exported abroad, to Tokyo, Seoul, or New York, while Hondurans never got to taste the best coffee grown in their own soil.

We're rewriting that story, one auction at a time.

"The best of Honduras belongs in Honduras and now the world comes to us." — Paul Gromek, CEO & Co-Founder, Spirit Origin Coffee

When record-breaking prices flow back to producers like Don Ottoniel and the coffee itself stays home, more value stays within Honduras, benefiting farmers, families, and entire growing communities. That's the heart of what we do as a B Corp-certified roaster: sustainable impact you can actually taste.

Where you can taste the champion

This winning lot will be roasted at our 12,000-square-foot flagship roastery in First Bight, Roatán, and served where it belongs at origin.

The most special way to experience it? Our Coffee Omakase — Central America's first, a 21-seat, reservation-only tasting journey where coffees like this one are brewed and presented the way they deserve.

And because only 529 pounds of this coffee exist in the world, we'll be releasing a very limited quantity through our online store, shipped directly from origin. When it's gone, it's gone, join our newsletter or keep an eye on the shop to be first in line.

Thank you

To Don Ottoniel Sagastume Pineda and every producer who poured a year of work into this harvest: this win is yours. To the Cup of Excellence jury, to our team in Roatán, and to everyone who has ever brewed a bag of our coffee at home, thank you for being part of this journey.

Two years. Two Top Lots. One mission: keeping the best of Honduras in Honduras and sharing it with the world, one cup at a time. ☕