Blanca Mancía, Finca Plan del Rosario

Blanca smiles brightly as she says this - my husband started growing coffee. Less than a year later, I was hooked too, and we decided to buy all the land we could afford with our savings.

We had just returned from the United States, where we had lived for several years, trying to save as much money as possible. But we never really felt at home there; we were what they call "illegals" and had to constantly look over our shoulders for fear of the police. A single speeding ticket would have been enough to send us to the horrors of arrest and then deportation. So we decided to return to Honduras on our own, as soon as we had earned enough money to start a business here.

Now, safely settled in the pleasant surroundings of our own land, we feel secure and at home, and our older children are, naturally, passionate about coffee as well. We also have a daughter, but she recently moved to El Salvador to study foreign languages ​​at university. We live less than three kilometers from the border, so it's much closer than moving to our own capital, and she can come home once a month.

Anyway, these days our children, who are young and strong, take care of much of the heavier work, like pulping and washing the beans. But I'm the one who handles the preparation and brewing. I make sure the coffees dry at the right rate, that they dry evenly, and I choose the brewing method for each batch. Now I know exactly when a batch is ready; I just have to glance at it and inhale the aromas to imagine what it will taste like once it's roasted and brewed.

Soon, God willing, we will build a solar dryer with the income we expect to receive from our micro-lots. This will allow me to worry less about the occasional rain showers that might occur at night and have more control over the drying process, as well as improve the quality.

I've focused a lot on natural and washed coffees, but now I'm noticing a growing interest in honey coffee, so I've started experimenting with it too.

I'll be able to send some samples of the first results soon!