Paraiso Farm; Jinotega, Nicaragua
Organic

Founded by Juan de Dios Castillo (the family’s agronomist) and his four siblings, J&M Family Coffee is a privately-owned export company named after their parents Juan and Miriam (J&M). They originally set out to sell their parents’ coffee directly to international buyers. It was a way to honor Finca Paraiso, the farms their parents started. Although the family business was as tailors, Juan and Miriam switched to coffee when the kids were little.

Today, Finca Paraiso is a collection of five family owned parcels with 100 acres of organic coffee production. During the harvest, the coffee cherries are carefully harvested, sorted and then depulped, fermented, washed and pre-dried at the farm. As a 100% vertical model, the J&M Family Coffee from Nicaragua ensures quality control and traceability from farm to export.

Alta de Jinotega; Jinotega, Nicaragua
Organic

Founded in 2013, the Cooperativa Multifuncional Family Coffee R.L. (COMULFAC) sources from family owned farms. The farmers grow coffee on farms that average 4 to 100 acres in size and use their own micro-mill to process the coffee cherries. This allows for detailed attention while the coffee goes through the depulping, fermenting, and drying stages. 

COMULFAC was established with assistance from J&M Family, a privately owned export company in Jinotega. The idea behind establishing a cooperative model was to help the farmers organize their efforts and combine their resources to develop social projects aimed at improving the quality of life in their communities.

COMSA Co-op; Marsala, Honduras
Organic

Finca Humana (the Human Farm) is a guiding principle of this cooperative in Marcala, Honduras. The wellbeing of humans is foundational to the COMSA philosophy. Educating the more than 1,500 producer-members to successfully live in harmony with nature is a key focus at COMSA.

La Fortaleza is the COMSA biodynamic educational farm. The  focus is to educate the co-op members on how to live in harmony with nature and still make a living. 

The trailblazing ideas for using organic matter to cultivate high quality coffee is only a sliver of what COMSA teaches about the power of nature through the Finca Humana philosophy. COMSA dedicates significant funding from the proceeds of Honduran coffee sales to run a cutting-edge international school. The goal is to get the kids excited about coffee and how to be successful without compromising the environment.

The fundamentals are traceability, meticulous post-harvest hand sorting of cherry, cherry floating to remove less dense beans, proper fermentation, long drying times, and a healthy dose of the COMSA philosophy and training. 

Blue Ayarza; Santa Rosa Guatemala

The region of Ayarza is distinguished by the drastic landscape and cold blue water from the Laguna de Ayarza and Laguna Azul. The lake was formed by two massive volcanoes that collapsed and formed a large crater. The soil from this region is rich in volcanic minerals with high levels of nitrogen. Coffee loves volcanic soil and all the minerals, providing tremendous flavor potential. In fact, the quality and complexity of flavor has led to the expansion of additional processing methods, including honey, natural and macerated.

For this Blue Ayarza Natural coffee, farmers deliver the best cherries from the region to the mill. These cherries are then sent to Amatitilan to dry on the patio for 10 days, and are finished off in a mechanical dryer for 5-10 more hours. 

Legender, Brazil

Ten years ago, Demilson Batista saw the opportunity to export quality specialty coffee from these farms, or sitios. In 2012, he established his exporting company, Legendér Specialty Coffees, in Machado, a small town in Sul de Minas. Machado and the neighboring towns of Poco Fundo and Campestre were full of untapped potential from these Sitios. Demilson made it his goal to work with these producers. He encourages them to sell during peak freshness so that they get paid out above the market rate.

Unlike other origins, Brazilian coffee from specialty sitios are ethical, sustainable and traceable. In Brazil, it is required that farmers maintain at least 30% of their land as preserved rainforest. This provides a habitat for local wildlife and shade to protect the coffee trees. Although not certified organic, most farms do not use pesticides or fertilizers.

Legendér pays producers fairly for their coffee with premiums added for high scoring coffee. They even will pay these premiums after the original purchase if the coffee ends up cupping better than expected. This model not only provides a more substantial income for farmers, but it also incentivizes them to continue offering great quality lots of single origin Brazilian coffee.

Santa Maria, Huila Colombia

Huila is one of Colombia’s southernmost coffee-producing departments and is home to its third-highest peak, the Nevado del Huila volcano. The department accounts for around 18% of Colombia’s total coffee production. This particular lot comes from Santa Maria, a town located in the northern part of Huila, not far from the departmental capital of Neiva.  Located between 1,500-1,600masl, Santa Maria produces some incredibly rich and sweet Colombian coffees with the aid of a rich, volcanic soil. Furthermore, regional blends from this town typically have cupping notes of peach, apple, tropical fruit, and cane sugar. 

San Ignacio Rio; Amoju, Peru
Organic

This coffee comes from a group of 535 producers located on the left bank of the Marañon River in Peru. The name Amoju is an Awajun word, meaning fresh water. A fitting name for coffee produced around the main tributary of the Amazon River. Founded in 2016, the Amoju producers are dedicated to growing coffee while mitigating climate change. Since forming, they have been able to improve the production and quality of their coffee, resulting in better sales and pricing for the members. The entire process of coffee production is completed on the producers’ 3-5 hectare farms. With a Quality Assurance manager on staff, the co-op takes year over year quality seriously.

The Amoju co-op is in the Cajamarca department. Cajamarca, along with the other Northern departments (Piura, Amazonas & San Martin) are home to 43% of the country’s total hectares of coffee. These provinces produce some very interesting lots with bright acidity, silky bodies, and sweet chocolate and fruit notes.

Shantawene Abore; Sidamo, Ethiopia

This lot comes to us from approximately 500 small specialty Ethiopian coffee farms located 1920 – 2020 meters above sea level in Bombe Village, Ethiopia. These farmers deliver their ripe Ethiopian Heirloom, 74-110 and 74-112 varietal cherries to the Abore washing station in nearby Bensa, Ethiopia.

Abore was founded in 1997 and gets its name from a bridge and a fountain located next to the washing station. Situated near the Bok Nora Waterfall, the Abore washing station is surrounded by diverse vegetation. The river provides ample water for the surrounding coffee trees and vegetation.

Lions Gate Farm; Hawaii, United States of America

Lions Gate is a multi-generational family farm! Bill and Diane own the original farm. Suzanne and Jacque, are on a farm nearby and manage all farms as one under the Lions Gate brand.  Bill Jr. helps with the ever-ongoing farm construction/repair activities.  And now, the third and fourth generation, Maile and great-granddaughter Mai also have a farm.

Lions Gate is a 15-acre working farm in South Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii. Kona Coffee has been farmed at Lions Gate for over a century. They process the coffee in the original mill that dates to 1942. In fact, they frequently find antique bottles and cultural relics that date back to the late 1800’s and beyond. In addition, there are rock mounds running from the mountain to the sea that were a part of the ancient Hawaiian Ahupua’a farm system. Although coffee is relatively new, the area has been farmed for hundreds of years.

They currently have 12 acres of coffee and 3 acres of macadamia nuts for commercial sales. They also grow numerous tropical and subtropical fruits for personal consumption, including papaya, guava, mango, pineapple, oranges, coconut, banana, jaboticaba, passion fruit, avocado, blood orange, Kau orange, tangelo, tangerine, ruby red grapefruit, lemon, lime, atemoya, jabon (Chinese grapefruit), cinnamon, and surinam cherry. 

In addition to food, they grow tropical decorative plants. The plants include bromeliad, fascinating heliconias, several varieties of ginger, anthuriums, orchids, bird of paradise, plumerias, poinsettias, jasmine (pikake), bamboo, tube rose, many varieties of palm, ti, croton, angel trumpet flower, dieffenbachia, schleichera, bougainvillea, gardenia, cycads, and hibiscus. This all amounts to an extremely eco-diverse growing area, ultimately benefiting the land, pollinators, plants and future success of the area.