Maldonado Family Farm
Coffee was, so to speak, rooted in him.
Lerida and Jorge have been together for many years, decades even by now. It was meant to be, as they grew up in entirely different regions of Honduras and the likelihood that they were ever going to meet was mindbogglingly small. But so it happened.
Lerida grew up in Choluteca, known by many Hondurans as “el horno” or ‘the oven’, as it is the hottest region of the land - with suffocating summers - and where even winters are hot. Jorge lived in a small village in the mountains of Santa Bárbara as a child. His great grandfather and grandfather grew coffee, but his dad only decided to change from cattle to coffee in 1978, when the price was skyrocketing.
It was great timing as it allowed Jorge to grow up between the coffee plants and learn from scratch when he was still a boy. Coffee was, so to speak, ingrained in him.
But as the family farm wasn’t big enough to feed the whole household, Jorge had to move to the big city when he was a young adult, to start working in a large factory. It was dull work, not exactly inspiring, but it meant a much needed, steady monthly income.
This is also where Lerida and Jorge met. Lerida too had moved from her hometown to the big city, forced by the chronic scarcity of food and her drive to build a better future. Soon enough they started a family, but once again bad luck struck, as many factories shut down in the roaring nineties, when American companies preferred to move operations to Mexico and China.
Jorge felt forced to travel illegally to the US, where he was paid in dollars and could send a monthly allowance to his wife and five children, who waited for him, year after year, in the big Honduran city. It wasn’t until 2007 that the family had finally saved enough money for Jorge to travel back home and move with the entire family to the mountains of Intibucá.
Intibucá is Honduras’ highest region, and the conditions are ideal to grow coffee. Jorge remembered this from when he was a child, and during his entire adult life, when working in the factory or in tiring jobs in the US, he had dreamed of having his own parcel of land, where he would be a free man, finally.
Soon enough, Lerida learned the ins and outs of drying and storing coffee, and because they were fortunate and smart enough to buy land at a very high altitude (1,800 meters) they were soon able to grow outstanding coffees.
Since almost two decades now, Jorge and Lerida have been working together in coffee. They have expanded their land and now own 5 hectares.
They have improved the varietals, now almost exclusively growing IH-Café 9 and Catuaí, and two years ago they have planted 2,500 Geisha trees, which they think will give their first harvest in 2026.
As a bonus, one of Jorge’s brothers, Wilmer, owns 24 hectares right next to Lerida and Jorge. That works out great as it allows them to help each other out whenever necessary and be more efficient. It is easy to share pickers, give each other a ride or lend a hand whenever needed. Additionally, it means that the family can also prepare larger batches as the varietals, profiles, seasonality, are all but identical.
With the future in mind, Genevieve, one of Lérida and Jorge's children, decided to add a new value to the family's coffee history. With the support of her parents, she studied Marketing and Climate Change, and continues to study English and Q-Grading.
Driven by her love for coffee and her desire to innovate, Genevieve decided to give added value to the beans that the family produces and to dedicate herself to “Joya de Occidente”, the family coffee company, thus promoting the legacy that began in the mountains, now with a vision that merges quality, sustainability and purpose.
Clearly, it was a great decision to invest all the savings in the farm. The family now generate their own income and work as they see fit. The days are long, but free from bosses and clocks.
They also moved from a hot and dangerous city to a quiet little mountain town with a cool climate and no crime. Today every cup of coffee tells the story of unity, resilience and hope. It is not just a coffee, it is the testimony of a family that has refused to give up, returning to its roots to share with the world the riches of the mountains of Honduras.
Farm Facts
5 hectares located between 1760 and 1850 meters.
Mostly IH-Café and Catuaí varietals. Some geisha, planted in 2023
Lots of shadow trees, mostly local trees, a bit of pine trees as well.
