Drink of the Week: HEX Coffee Proyecto Cabañas

As Asheville, North Carolina, and surrounding towns band together to recover after Hurricane Helene devastated much of the southeast with historic flooding, many are struggling with displacement, power outages, food and water shortages, and unimaginable loss. In the Asheville coffee community, many cafés and coffee shops have shut down indefinitely due to flood damage.

“While our roastery was fortunate enough to avoid damage, we’ve seen friends and neighbors facing uncertainty as they try to rebuild,” says Tanner Morita, co-owner of HEX Coffee Roasters in Charlotte, North Carolina. Compelled to help, HEX is selling a special coffee release with proceeds going directly to support Asheville’s coffee community. “It’s important to us to give back,” he adds. “And this release provides a way for us to support the people who have always been there for us.”

The Proyecto Cabañas coffee, from Santa Bárbara, Honduras, is part of their importer’s ongoing Rise initiative that helps smallholder coffee farmers with technical support and education. With the coffee’s comforting notes of graham cracker and honeycomb brightened by lemon zest, its approachable profile reflects the great care of the farmers behind it. The coffee cherries are handpicked, pulped, fermented, and sun-dried on raised beds.

Morita says that there aren’t many bags left of the Proyecto Cabañas, thanks to the groundswell of support. But HEX’s importing friends at Unblended donated coffee for them to roast and include in this initiative. “We hope to have this coffee delivered to our roastery and released to the public as soon as possible,” he says. $25, hex.coffee