Reinaldo Mena, Los Pitos Farm

He would hit me if I didn't want to work the land when I was just a child. But he was also fair, and he taught me most of what I know today. I didn't go to school much; I didn't like it, and I only finished the third grade. At fifteen, I started working the land on my own.

One thing my father never taught me was how to brew micro-batches. In fact, he never had the joy of discovering what that even meant. I only learned it myself recently when I joined Cafesmo. On my first attempt, I scored 84, and on my second, 85. I'm thrilled because I'm discovering a whole new playing field with almost limitless opportunities to diversify, experiment, and improve.

Coffee means happiness to me; it's a passion. When I look out over my farm at the end of the day, just as the sun begins to settle behind the distant mountain peaks, the glow of its rays is so precious that it makes me want to stay there forever. Even more so now, as I'm beginning to explore this newly discovered world of specialty coffees.

What's also wonderful about my job is that I don't have a boss, no one to tell me what to do. I organize each day as I see fit and decide on my own priorities. If anything goes wrong, I can only blame myself, but every success I achieve is due to my own hard work.

My children are still young and don't work on the farm. I want to give them the freedom to choose: whether they want to pursue higher education or prefer to work the land, like me. Of course, I secretly hope they share my passion for coffee farming, but I'm very aware of the growing challenges posed by climate change and the relentless drop in international market prices.

So we'll see where my children end up when they grow up. As for me, I'll continue living my life on and around my farm, because I love it more than any career I could imagine.