Hernán is a small coffee producer who has fought hard to raise his young family. He, his wife and his two young children depend exclusively on coffee for their livelihood.

Hernán grew up producing coffee with his father, and started his own farm after receiving a small plot of land as an inheritance. His small estate is located in a mountainous area with lush vegetation in the community of Pozo Negro, Masaguara, Intibucá, an rich in natural resources.

For many years Hernán sold his coffee to local intermediaries, and both he and the rest of his neighbors were unaware of the quality of their coffee and the possibility of entering to quality coffee markets. Hernán decided to follow the recommendations of Rony Gamez, our partner in the region. He instructed Hernán on how to process and dry the coffee with dedication and commitment in order to find international buyers. Since the beginning of our Intibuca project we have been buying microlots from Hernán. Now aware of the quality of his coffee, Hernán decided to enter the Honduras COE and won second place.

Hernán produces the variety Catuaí, he has learned to manage coffee leaf rust avoiding the devastation this disease has wreaked in Honduras in recent years. He carefully monitors the amount of fertilizer used, performing two fertilisations per year, and he is always looking to eliminate infected plants by pests or diseases. Hernán does not have any official certifications but he is committed to the environment and manages his farm with low use of chemicals. He creates a natural compost from coffee pulp to improve the structure of his soil His farm is located above 1,700 masl and his coffee trees are shaded by large native species.

His pickers live in the local village and they transport the picked cherries by mule almost a kilometer along a rough road to his house where his processing facilities are located. He removes the mucilage, ferments for about 30 hours and then washes the coffee with mountain water. The coffee is dried in a solar dryer specifically built to slow the drying process and make it more homogenous.

Thanks to the improved prices he earns for his high quality coffee, Hernán now envisions a future with greater opportunities and he hopes to improve the living conditions of his family.

Intibuca project:

The coffees from Honduras can be so amazing when they are from the right places and are processed well. They often have more complexity, depth and richness than other Central American coffees. Many specialty coffee buyers in Honduras are focused in and around the department (state) of Santa Barbara. We were hoping to expand our offering from Honduras, and decided to look at other regions to see what potential we could find. Intibuca stood out as a department with delicious coffees, and enormous potential to produce more if producers could find a market.

We have recently partnered with a group of 60 producers in the community of Pozo Negro, located in the municipality of Masaguara in Intibuca. These producers have organised themselves into a group who come together to learn and share knowledge. They elect a chairman every year who, for several years running, has been Wilmer Alexis Grau Montoya. As Joanne met with this group and heard from the producers themselves, their shared respect for Wilmer was clear. They hold regular meetings, to organize themselves and their production and to support each other in improving the quality of their coffee.

This group of producers is making an enormous effort, and reinvesting in their infrastructure on their wet mills, drying facilities and back into their production. This is an exciting development, as it allows for greater traceability and separation of high quality micro-lots, and is by no means ordinary for Honduran coffee producers. Our aim in working with this group is to find them a stable market for these coffees, and to assist them to further develop quality, and increase the amount they earn for their coffee over time.