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“La Esperanza San Juan” Estate, Jalapa
Domingo Palma Montoya
While being a salary earner peasant, Don Minguito as
it is known in Jalapa, bought this farm from his employer, who sold to
him (in installments) more than 10 acres of virgin mountains, an area
which is difficult to access. On a four wheel drive, you drive near 3
steep kilometers, from where you can admire amazing views that dominate
the entire valley.
From that part of the country, Don Domingo Palma as
he himself expresses it, feels as “el rey” (the king). You can
contemplate the town of Jalapa, the mountains Macarali, Terrerio, San
José. All these sites during the 80´s faced the war time, however
now-a-days they produce tobacco, basic grains and cattle.
“After 8 years of completely abandon, coffee was
reactivated…. We have worked very hard and have been very organized…
although I must confess that I never thought that I would produce the
best coffee of this town” don Minguito says.
He also explains that last year, Mauro Mercado a
coffee collector who is his friend, advice him to participate in the
“Coffee cup of excellence”. Although Don Minguito was not happy because
the coffee crop had been a poor one due to the drought and also feeling
a bit compromised, nevertheless he accepted the challenge…. few time
later he was given the great news.
While he shows us a cup with the hot special coffee
that he is drinking together with “rosquillas” (traditional corn hot
cakes) prepared by his wife, he says: “We are very satisfied at home
with this award…. My wife also feels the joy and she welcomes me every
time with a cup of the “champion” coffee”, the name given to this
coffee.
Domingo Palma ends by saying: “We hope that Atlantic,
a coffee exporter company, will continue getting us better prices for my
coffee…. Because it has giving me the great satisfaction to become from
a worker to a producer and I have raised all my children with this
coffee.
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