The project?s objective is to bring tea to market, made from the coffee bean?s endocarp. AGQ Labs will provide all of the analytical studies
This Protected Denomination of Origin denotes the geographical region of the Montecillos mountains, southwest of Tegucigalpa, near the border with El Salvador. The Protected Denomination of Origin, granted in 2005, applies to 202 villages in 19 municipalities and covers 2,327 members. In these almost 15 years of work, Marcala has become a benchmark for the highest quality coffee. The majority of its production is organic and grown for exportation. As an example of its commercial success, the prestigious U.S. company Starbucks coffee introduced the Honduras Premier product, which uses coffee harvested in Marcala, onto the market this past January as part of its Starbucks Reserve line.
In this project, AGQ Labs, together with its partner in the region, Disagro, will provide the analytical characterization service needed to ensure the quality and safety of a tea made from the coffee?s subproducts. The tea will be prepared from a flour based on the bean pulp (with remains of the endocarp, which surrounds the coffee bean). The project contemplates a food-safety analysis for pesticide residues, heavy metals, ochratoxins, and food-quality analyses of nutritional components and caffeine.
This project, named Development of Methodologies for the Production of Healthy Foods and Drinks based on Coffee Subproducts has a total budget of more than one million Euros. It received its financing from the European Union, after being chosen at the Innovative Ideas and Solutions Competition at SAN: EUROSAN INNOVA. The project?s promoters are Asociación Denominación de Origen Café Marcala (ADOPCAM) and the ETEA Foundation: Institute of Development of Universidad Loyola in Andalusia (Spain).
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