Francisco Pineda, Finca Las Mesetas
Formally, I've only been working as a coffee farmer since 2019, but, to tell the truth, I was basically born among my parents' coffee plants, just as my own parents grew up on my grandparents' coffee farm.
In fact, most members of our extended family are deeply involved in coffee, and each of us focuses on our own unique talents and skills. It is through these unique abilities that we express our love for coffee within our family.
For example, my uncle, Nery Espinoza, is a beacon of light in my life, and I aspire to be as knowledgeable as he is someday. My uncle Nery knows more than anyone I know about plant life, diseases, nutrients, soil conservation, shade, and much more. I secretly suspect he talks to his plants when he's alone with them, though he vehemently denies it every time I dare to ask.
For example, my cousin Lisbeth, who is about my age. Although Lisbeth is also a farmer, she spends much of her time strengthening our family's brand on social media and selling our coffees nationwide in Honduras. Thanks to her work, she is able to introduce our family and our different coffees to the world.
And me? Well, I have my own approach and preferences. I love roasting and also experimenting with exotic profiles and fermentation processes, as well as sharing my knowledge with others. But above all, in our family, I'm in charge of quality control. My family paid for me to take a Q-grader course, and although I don't have the international license, which costs $2,000 and is beyond our means, I graduated as a licensed coffee taster from our national coffee institute.
My uncle Nery also owns a coffee roastery, where I handle quality control and roasting. We roast coffee for our national clients: several gas stations, cafes, and also end consumers.
All this doesn't mean we're rich, at least not in the "Western" sense of the word. For example, I went to a bilingual primary school, but I had to get my secondary education in the public system because the price of coffee had fallen and my parents could no longer afford the tuition. And recently we had to sell some of our land to pay the medical bills for one of our relatives.
Even so, I consider myself fortunate because, thanks to the hardships the previous generation of our family endured, my own generation can create more and better opportunities. A decade ago, our family would never have dreamed that my uncle would own a coffee roastery, or dreamed of working with roasters from faraway countries like Chile, Belgium, and parts of Asia.
We hope that these new opportunities we're creating will also contribute to improving the reputation of Honduran coffees. So many incredible farmers in our country produce exquisite coffees, coffees that are being purchased by some of the most famous roasters in the world. One of my goals is to become an ambassador for Honduran coffees—those from our own family, of course, but also Honduran-origin coffee in general.
If you want to know more about me and our coffees, you can find me @doncanacoffee
Property details
The property is located at an altitude of 1,350 meters and measures 3.2 hectares .
The main varieties are Parainema and Catimor .
The shade is provided by the local trees that grow naturally in the area.
The farm has organic , fair trade and RA certifications.
