Cerro Las Minas is the tallest mountain in Honduras and the pride of the department of Lempira, in western Honduras. The mountain is home to a variety of wildlife, from pumas and other big cats to an endangered salamander found only there. During the 1970s, the nation’s forestry department began intensely logging throughout the department, dramatically reducing forest area and biodiversity. People from the nearby town of La Campa formed a grassroots campaign to stop the logging, and their work ultimately led to the 1987 creation of the Celaque National Park, 102 protected square miles in which Cerro Las Minas sits.
This coffee, from seven producers in Lempira, celebrates the people of La Campa’s courageous spirit of activism and conservation and its lasting natural gift to all of us.
Specialty Producer Program
This coffee comes from seven producers who are participants in the Specialty Coffee Division (SCD), a quality-oriented sustainability program created and run by InterAmerican sister company Becamo.
SCD was created in 2015 with the goal of impacting 210 coffee-producing families by ensuring their access to financing, knowledge of agricultural best practices and quality-focused procedures that can lead to higher profits and financial stability for producers. While some programs offer group trainings, producers in SCD receive private attention from Becamo agronomists and receive direct and personalized financing assistance.
Meet the Producers
Efrain Perez started out with 1.41 hectares and began planting his own coffee trees when he married his wife, Doña Tita Garcia. He is deeply motivated by his three sons and his desire for them to receive a complete education, since he didn’t have the opportunity to finish high school. His dream is for them to have a big estate farm and to sell high-quality coffee all around the world.
José Salomón Vasquez has a devout spirit and wakes up every day before the sun, drinks freshly roasted coffee and begins his day on his coffee farm. His father taught him everything he knows about harvesting, fertilization and the importance of shade. Don José started with 2.09 hectares.
Pablo Vasquez is 29 years old and best known among his neighbors for his hardworking spirit. He goes to every farmer training and likes to participate, in hopes of enhancing his estate farm day by day.
Catalina Perez is 42 years old and was born in the small town of La Caona. She has always been connected to coffee, since there were many coffee plantations where she grew up. As a girl, she dreamed of having a big estate farm and being recognized as a high- quality coffee producer. Eventually, she met a man who taught her all about coffee and from whom she inherited 1.39 hectares. Today, she is a single mother of three children, who also dream of having an estate farm.
Jose Humberto Martinez was born in 1981 in Tres Cruces, Erandique. When he was younger, he worked for bigger coffee producers picking coffee cherries, but since the payment he received was barely enough to survive, he decided to start planting his own coffee trees in 2004. Don Jose joined the specialty program in order to increase his knowledge of coffee production.
Filiberta Hernández Cortez is a sweet and caring woman from the community of La Caona, in Lempira. After her husband passed away 7 years ago, she had to take care of her home by herself, and though it hasn’t been easy for her, she has given her best for her children.
Margarito Amaya was born in 1968, though coffee has been a tradition in his family for more than 100 years. His farm, El Manzano, is 1,600 meters above sea level and was bought by his grandfather, who planted Typica varieties and left it to Margarito´s father. A hundred years later, Margarito still has those Typica trees and has also planted other varieties, such as yellow Catuai, Lempira, Typica and Bourbon amarillo.
Cupping notes: Milk chocolate, caramel, raisin, blueberry, raspberry, pronounced citrus; bright acidity, silky body.
