Honduras El Cedral Lourdes Figueroa

Lourdes Figueroa's farm is located in the village of El Cedral, within the Western Honduras Department of Santa Barbara, that shares a border with Guatemala. Her small plot that barely covers .5 hectares of land is called, "La Galera". She grew up working as a picker on the farms of others, eventually inheriting the small plot of her own which she expended to a few hectares with her family. La Galera was initially cared for by her son, but he eventually moved away for other opportunities and the farm was destroyed by hurricanes Eta and Iota in 2020. Lourdes took it upon herself to replant, and has revitalized the farm back into healthy production. La Galera sits at 1600 meters above sea level, and planted in Pacas variety, a natural mutation of Bourbon widely cultivated in Honduras and other parts of Central America. Lourdes ferments her coffee for around 15 hours without water, after which, she rinses two times in clean water to remove the remaining fruit. The coffee then moves to indoor, "solar" drying rooms where it is dried on raised tables for around 2 weeks. We found out about Lourdes' coffee through Beneficio San Vicente, a mill and export operation in the nearby town of Peña Blanca, who have built a reputation over the past 25 years of working to put Honduras on the map as a source for high quality microlots. They've moved away from the volume-oriented business model, instead pushing to isolate quality through training programs with the farmers they work with, as well as continuing to improve their ability to manage small lots at their mill.