Monserrath Morazán Padilla, launch the Honduras as Champion in the World Brewers Championship in Chicago 2024Technical Sheet
Title: Brewers Cup Champ 2024 Honduras
Age: 33 years old
Trivia: Industrial engineer with a master’s degree in finance. When they ventured to open the De la Montaña Café cafeteria, she prepared the desserts, her favorite being Tiramisu. She is a baseball fan, with her favorite team being the New York Yankees.
Background: Fifth-generation coffee producer, barista, taster, and brewer champion. She has been a judge in local barista and brewer competitions. This is Honduras’ first participation in the World Coffee Championship. Monserrath traveled to Chicago with a team: her father, the producer; her brother, her coach; also accompanying her were her roaster and taster, her wife who is also a taster, her sister-in-law who manages social media, and a translator to assist with her presentation.
Who is Monserrath Morazán?
Monserrath has coffee in her veins. She is the fifth generation of a coffee-producing family from the El Paraíso region. Her earliest childhood memories are precisely in the coffee fields. In Honduras, December and January are vacation seasons, coinciding with the harvest months, Monserrath and her two older brothers spent their time on the farm. “I remember seeing the farm full of pickers, and going out with my grandmother to sell coffee,” she says. However, Monserrath’s true love for coffee began ten years ago, after a severe crisis caused by coffee leaf rust. She and her older brother decided to dive in and help their father rebuild the farm, making small changes to the farm and opening their specialty café to make the business self-sustainable. “Thank God we are about to celebrate eight years with the café, La Montaña Coffee Shop, which was the first place to offer coffee with different methods, that was our added value,” she says.
How did you start as a barista and then as a brewer?
I love infusions, but when we started, like in everything, we needed to learn to be the best, so we took courses and certifications, cupping, barista, and everything we could. My brother and I, and since I cook and was in charge of making desserts, some say that this ability to recognize flavors and smells gave me an edge.
How was the competition at the national level, was it tough? The competition was held in August last year, I competed with 12 other people, and there were only two women, both made it to the finals and she won. In August 2023, I felt like when an important game is coming and you have the stress before that game, like baseball.
So, Did you have enough time to prepare?
That’s another pressure I feel (laughs).
Tell us a little about the coffee you’re going to prepare.
I will be going to prepare a Geisha on V60, which is my favorite method, that coffee surprised us all with its cupping score. It has controlled fermentation, and although I’ll tell you that I love Pacamara, I always go for one.
How do you feel now just a few days before the event?
I feel a bit of pressure, being the only woman representing Central America, and because it’s the first time I’m in this type of competition and you don’t know who you’re competing against. About a week and a half ago, the organization started publishing the competitors, so I saw, for example, that Raúl from Guatemala is a world champion in barista, and you see that there are champions of champions and for me, a first-timer, so it’s exciting. But I think we’ve prepared ourselves to do a good job, although I have a disadvantage in bringing a translator because my English is not good and the rules say that if you bring a translator it’s at your own risk; still, I’m going to enjoy it and do a good job.
