María Nohemy Rodriguez, Farm El Bambú

My husband and I have been growing coffee since the 1980’s and we are third generation farmers so believe me, I have seen more coffee beans in my life than anyone!

We only have 0,7 hectares of land so it’s a really humble enterprise, but we love coffee, we love our plants, and we love what we do. Also, we live on the land too so we only have to step out of the house to be in the middle of our rows of plants.

Thankfully, there’s a lot of shadow, which is provided by lots of different fruit trees, like orange, tangerine, mango, avocado, pineapple and much more. Apart from offering much needed shade to our coffee plants, it also means we can eat lots of different fruits throughout the year.

There’s a lot of hardship around here. Coffee is sold for so little, we can barely make a living out of it. Fortunately, three of our seven children made it alive on their dangerous journey to the United States, through the desert, and they now are able to send us some money every month. That’s what keeps us afloat.

We also try to prepare at least one batch of coffee of superior quality. Usually, the first round of picking as well as the last round, we get nice beans, but not the best. It’s the middle of the harvest that gives us the highest quality, when the cherries will be deep red, almost purple, and when the ripeness, size, and readiness are most homogenous.

Those are the lots – small but savory – that bring us our greatest pride. And yes, you bet, we like drinking those too and that’s what we end our day with, looking out over our plants, when the sun sets behind the mountains.

Farm Facts

0,7 hectares, 1,339 meters.

Varietal: parainema

Shadow: tangerine, orange, mango, lemon, coco, bamboo, pineapple, avocado.

Certified Fair Trade, Organic, RFA