Silvia Ventura, Finca La Jireh
I was born to love coffee and there is possibly more black gold flowing through my veins than blood.
I am an only child - a fact not very common in Honduras - and my father loves me immensely, so from a very young age, he would take me to the farm whenever he could.
I vividly remember how more than once, when I was little, I would get up in the middle of the night and secretly to water the coffee plants around the house when I feared that it had not rained enough during the preceding weeks.
I also helped with the harvest during school holidays. And not only that. My dad taught me how to care for the small plants in the nursery, how to keep the farm clean, and everything else: processing and drying the grains, selecting the best grains for a micro-lot, protecting the farm against rust, and much more.
From a young age, I decided I wanted to be a coffee taster. To delve into other aspects—perhaps even more complex ones—of creating good coffee. In 2017, I received my diploma and now I work as a coffee taster, although I'm still a producer as well.
I consider this combination of activities a blessing, because it allows me to work both in the field and in the lab. It allows me to cultivate coffee while simultaneously experimenting, preparing batches that amaze me, and creating complex and unique profiles. Since I'm still young, I also have plenty of time ahead to continuously improve my skills and knowledge.
My father continues to teach me about cultivation on our farm year after year, but these days I'm the one who helps him select the best coffees and prepare micro-lots. I have a predilection for coffees processed using maceration methods. It requires hard work and is a bit risky because you don't always know how each batch will turn out, but a good anaerobic coffee elevates the profile of a good coffee even further, with pronounced characteristics and aftertastes that linger to please the palate.
The world of coffee continues to evolve at an astonishing pace. I'm already curious to see what we'll be tasting in ten years. As long as I can be an active part of that evolution, my work will remain my passion!
Property details
I own 0.7 hectares at an altitude of 1,290 meters . But I prepare many of my batches with coffee from my father.
The varieties on my farm are IH-Café 90 and Pacas .
There is plenty of natural shade from pine trees, but there are also mango and banana trees, for our own consumption, to enrich the soil, and to enrich the profiles of our grains.
The farm is FTO and RFA certified.
