Merlin Hernández García, Farm Las Quebraditas y La Montañita

Merlin likes to read books. Especially books about history or law.

Not surprisingly, Merlin is a bookkeeper and she expects to graduate as a lawyer in August 2022. In fact, Merlin is not just any bookkeeper; she is our own Cafesmo bookkeeper.

She spends most of her days in our office, where she makes sure that every farmer member gets paid what they are due, and not a check or wire leaves Cafesmo without her sharp eye having checked it first.

But Merlin is also a coffee grower herself. Her parents grew coffee even before she was born and she spent much of her childhood playing in the fields. When she was a little older, she started to help. Like many sons and daughters, she assisted her parents mostly during the harvest season. But unlike most, instead of helping with the picking and washing, Merlin mostly focused on counting buckets of coffee, paying workers, keeping the books. Thankfully she has two brothers and two sisters who were happy that Merlin was responsible for the ‘boring part’, while they could help their father in the field.

That said, once she started working at Cafesmo, Merlin was exposed to the world of specialty coffees, and, at first almost imperceptibly, then very willingly, her views started to broaden and her interest in growing great lots became palpable. 

Now, Merlin owns two plots that together measure 7 hectares. While she still holds her office job, and her father and siblings help out with much of the work during the busy season, Merlin is much more actively involved in the drying and preparation of the micro-lots that the family processes from the best beans, which they select during the second picking round in each of their farms.

It's only since 2020 that Merlin and her family started learning about preparing specialty coffee lots, and in 2022 Merlin has sold a lot a roaster in Sweden who bought one of the lots. She’s looking forward to deepening her knowledge and gaining more experience every year, to establish long-term relationships with a small number of interested specialty roasters.

Farm facts

A total of 7 hectares on two small plots at 1,250 to 1,300 meters.

Shadow provided by local trees.

Varietals Parainema, pacas, lempira, and IH-Café 90

The farm is organic and fair trade and RFA certified.