Reina Mercedes Castañeda, whose grandfather born in Germany, Max Drawert, who introduced coffee to Marcala, La Paz, Honduras, many years ago. She has displayed a great passion for cultivating coffee since very her young age. Actually, she is married to Rafael de Jesus Chinchilla. She has inspired him to cultivate coffee on a small piece of land located in the turistic town of Valle de Angeles. City where one commercializes the best crafts of the country. Located municipality that this to 22 kilometers of Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, C.A. With the objective to grow the best coffee, he brought a native family from the Lenca Tribe (shown in picture above), from a village called Yarula, La Paz Honduras, with the intention of having them care for the farm and the coffee plantation. This Lenca family has been perfection the technique and skills of coffee plantation for generations working with the Drawert family in the Planes of Marcala. With the aid of his wife and the administrator named Carlos ( Lenca family head shown above), Rafael Chinchilla has been learning about the proper care of coffee plantation since 1999, and his main objective is to treat each single coffee plant with the greatest care and harmony with the environment, in order to improve his coffee’s quality reflected in the results of the current Cup of Excellence Award Coffee competition. Even though, this is the first time, he has participated in the “Cup of Excellence”.

Quality Practices

The coffee is processed under traditional methods: Mature cherries are cut and peeled almost immediately. Fermented under traditional methods and immediately cleaned after; Manually sun dried in tents by female labor; classified by female personnel under the direction y supervision of his wife and the administrator named Carlos. Not allowing under any circumstance, the grain of coffee to touch the ground. Therefore not risking the contamination of the grain.

Environmental Care

The coffee cultivates 50% shade with the objective to conserve itself the grounds and to maintain solar filtration regulated and a ventilation uniform inside the plantation and to if same maintaining the maturation it uniforms and a good quality of the fruit.

Fertilization

The coffee plantation is fertilized with compost taking advantage of the pulp of the same coffee and other organic fertilizers.

Disease and Pest Control

All the controls of plagues and diseases are made through integrated, cultural and ecological handlings.

Harvesting

The manual harvest starts on December and finishes in April each year using men and women labor to pick up the grain coffee.

Other Statistics:
Annual Production: 50 bags
Soil type: Frank Clayey
Annual precipitation: 1300-1900 mm
Shade Trees Species: Ingas
Water Source: Natural and clean that is born in the property.
Number of Permanent Employees: 4
Number of Temporary Employees: 25