Producers from El Pinal, El Pinal area
"We are a group of highly motivated coffee growers with decades of experience. Most of us are second-generation farmers, some are third-generation."
Our elders teach the young people how to grow coffee. But then the young people, who are much more adept at picking up new things online, experiment with new methods and processes.
They also ensure we improve our techniques, and Cafesmo is very helpful when it comes to technical assistance for better water management, increased shade, and higher yields. Since all our farms are Fair Trade and organic certified, we also adhere to good labor practices and environmental stewardship. In any case, El Pinal is in a very remote area. It's a hamlet of about 150 inhabitants, and we're two hours from San Marcos (population 10,000) during the dry season. During the rainy season, our dirt roads are barely passable, even with a front-wheel-drive vehicle, and sometimes we're cut off from the world for days on end. For people like us, who love nature, silence, and cleanliness, this remoteness is a great advantage. At an altitude of between 1,500 and 2,000 meters, the climate is delightful year-round: between 18 and 26 degrees Celsius every day, and the nights are cool but rarely cold. There is no traffic, no pollution, no noise, no plastic, no stress, except, of course, during harvest season, when everything becomes frantic and we all have to work very long days.
Most of us are men, but our wives and families help us during the peak of the harvest. The strongest among us carry the coffee on their backs for about twenty minutes along winding paths to the dirt road. If we can afford it, we rent mules for a day or two, but we usually don't have the resources for that. We dry our coffee beans in the patios outside our houses, and that's also where we prepare our microlots for specific roasters.
Six years ago, some of us decided to plant avocado trees. It was for personal consumption, but they grew so well that we soon decided to plant more. Now, these trees are starting to provide an additional source of income and—as a bonus—generous shade for our coffee plants, which don't thrive if they aren't protected from the strong tropical sunlight.
Together, we offer several varieties, which we often blend to enhance flavor patterns and create rich profiles. When we prepare microlots, we usually use a single variety, though we sometimes use two, just for fun. You should try some of our coffees. We're confident you won't be disappointed. The altitude, the pure air, the clean water and environment, and of course, our own hard work, all combine to produce some of the best coffee in our region!
Property data
All our properties are situated between 1,500 and 2,000 meters . However, most are between 1,650 and 1,900 meters .
We have many pine trees that provide natural shade, but we have also planted avocado and linden trees.
The varieties we offer vary on each farm, but we mainly cultivate catimoro, IH-café-90, lempira, and also obata and parainema.
All our coffees are FTO certified .
This farm is certified by the Rain Forest Alliance .
