Welcome to the 2026 edition of Build-Outs of Coffee! And get ready: this year’s feature series, an annual fixture on the Sprudge content calendar, promises to be the biggest, boldest, and best ever. We’re thrilled to be back sharing the stories of brand new cafes around the world, recently opened and under construction, as part of a reporting tradition that dates all the way back to 2012. To kick things off let’s with t first: Spirit Origin Coffee of Roatán, Honduras is the first-ever Honduran cafe to be included in the Build-Outs. The location is stunning, the design is immaculate, and we can’t wait to learn more. Let’s dive in!
The 2026 Build-outs of Coffee is presented by DONA, Pacific Barista Series, and La Marzocco.
As told to Sprudge by Paul Gromek.
For those who aren’t familiar, will you tell us about your company?
Spirit Origin Coffee is a vertically integrated specialty coffee company based in Roatán, Honduras, focused on redefining how coffee is experienced at origin. We source and work directly with Honduran producers, roast on the island, and serve coffee through a combination of specialty cafe service, an immersive Coffee Omakase experience, and a hospitality-driven restaurant concept called From the Roots.
Our flagship project is a 12,000-square-foot destination built on the highest mountain in Roatán, featuring panoramic ocean views, a Probat roastery, quality control lab, open production spaces, and curated guest experiences designed to connect visitors directly with the journey of coffee from farm to cup.
What makes Spirit Origin unique is the focus on keeping more value within a coffee-producing country while presenting Honduran specialty coffee at an international luxury hospitality standard. We work with rare micro-lots and Cup of Excellence coffees, and our concept was designed to attract both local guests and international tourism, including cruise passengers seeking elevated food and beverage experiences.
Beyond hospitality, our mission is also deeply tied to impact at origin through education, job creation, and long-term development within the Honduran coffee sector.
Can you tell us a bit about the new space?
The new Spirit Origin Coffee space was designed to be much more than a traditional coffee shop. The project brings together a specialty coffee roastery, quality control lab, cafe, Coffee Omakase experience, and fine dining restaurant into one integrated hospitality destination overlooking the Caribbean Sea in Roatán, Honduras.
The 12,000-square-foot build sits on the island’s highest mountain and was intentionally designed around transparency and immersion. Guests can move through different parts of the coffee journey—from roasting and quality control to brewing and tasting—while interacting directly with the production environment. Large open spaces, ocean-facing terraces, and floor-to-ceiling windows were incorporated to maximize natural light and views throughout the experience.
One of the core goals of the build was to create a luxury-level coffee experience within a coffee-producing country itself, rather than exporting the experience abroad. The space combines hospitality, education, and production under one roof, with a strong emphasis on showcasing Honduran specialty coffee through elevated service, architecture, and storytelling.
The project also includes a dedicated Coffee Omakase room for curated tasting experiences, a full-service restaurant called From the Roots, and a production-focused roasting facility built around a Probat system and QC lab to support both retail and wholesale operations.
What’s your approach to coffee?
Our approach to coffee is centered around showcasing the full potential of Honduran specialty coffee while keeping more value and recognition at origin. We focus heavily on traceability, quality control, and hospitality, combining production and guest experience into one ecosystem.
We work directly with producers across Honduras and prioritize exceptional micro-lots, experimental processing, and Cup of Excellence-level coffees. Because we roast at origin in Roatán, we’re able to maintain close control over the coffee from sourcing through roasting and final service, while also creating a fresher and more transparent connection between guests and the coffee itself.
From a roasting perspective, our goal is clarity, sweetness, and balance while respecting the unique characteristics of each coffee. We approach coffee as both a craft product and a hospitality experience, which is reflected in everything from our QC protocols and brewing standards to our Coffee Omakase format and food pairings.
Ultimately, we want guests to experience coffee in a more immersive and elevated way — not just as a beverage, but as a story of origin, people, processing, terroir, and hospitality all coming together in one place.
Any machines, coffees, special equipment lined up?
Our roasting program is built around a Probat P12, which serves as the centerpiece of the production space and allows guests to experience roasting as part of the overall hospitality environment. The roastery is fully integrated into the guest flow, alongside our quality control lab and brewing areas.
On the coffee side, we focus heavily on rare Honduran micro-lots and Cup of Excellence coffees. In fact, coffees we sourced and worked with earned the #1 and #2 placements in the Honduras Cup of Excellence competition last year, and those coffees are featured within our tasting and Omakase experiences at origin.
For espresso service, we use a La Marzocco Modbar system inside the Coffee Omakase room to create a more interactive and minimalist guest experience, while the main cafe operates on La Marzocco espresso equipment paired with specialty-focused grinders and brewing tools across multiple brew methods.
The overall goal was to combine production-level equipment with a hospitality-driven environment where guests can experience world-class coffee directly within a coffee-producing country.
How is your project considering sustainability?
Sustainability has been one of the core considerations behind the entire Spirit Origin project, especially given Roatán’s extremely sensitive island and marine ecosystem. As a B Corp-oriented company, we wanted the build to balance hospitality, production, and environmental responsibility from the beginning.
One major component is our advanced wastewater treatment infrastructure designed to minimize environmental impact on the island. The system processes and treats water used throughout the operation before discharge, helping protect the surrounding environment and nearby reef systems that are critical to Roatán’s ecosystem.
We are also in the process of implementing a full solar energy system with battery storage and inverter infrastructure that is intended to offset and eventually provide the majority of electricity consumption for the entire project, including the roastery, café, restaurant, and production areas.
On the packaging side, all of our coffee bags are fully compostable and TÜV-certified, aligning with our goal of reducing long-term waste while maintaining specialty-grade product quality and shelf stability.
Beyond infrastructure, we also view sustainability through the lens of economic impact at origin—creating jobs, roasting in Honduras instead of exporting green coffee abroad, and helping retain more value within coffee-producing communities.
What’s your hopeful target opening date/month?
We opened on February 13, 2026.
Are you working with craftspeople, architects, and/or creatives that you’d like to mention?
Yes, collaboration with creatives and mission-driven partners has been a major part of the Spirit Origin project.
Our branding and creative direction were developed together with Biles Hendry, a fellow B-Corp creative agency that supported the project pro bono. Their team helped shape the visual identity, storytelling, packaging direction, and overall brand positioning behind Spirit Origin Coffee as we worked to create a concept that reflects both specialty coffee and hospitality at origin in a more elevated and internationally recognizable way.
On the architectural side, we worked with the Chilean architecture studio Stanacev Granados, whose team helped bring the physical vision of the project to life. Their approach focused heavily on openness, natural light, guest flow, and integration with the surrounding landscape and panoramic ocean views of Roatán. The goal was to create a space that feels immersive and experiential while still functioning as a working roastery, restaurant, and hospitality destination under one roof.
The project also involved collaboration with local craftspeople, builders, and hospitality professionals throughout Honduras and Roatán, which was important to us as part of keeping the project connected to the region and community where it operates.
Thank you!
The 2026 Build-outs of Coffee is presented by DONA, Pacific Barista Series, and La Marzocco.
