Nery Espinoza, Finca El Limón

I’m part of a family with eleven siblings and started working with my dad on our coffee plot when I was ten.…

Although I continued to go to school for a few more years, there was hardly enough income to feed so many mouths, and someone needed to help on the land.

Then, when I was sixteen, our dad died and I suddenly became responsible for the well-being of our entire family. To complicate things further, prices for coffee tumbled on the international market not much after that, and on top of that Honduras was affected by a wave of leaf rust.

I had what one can call a tough start in life, but thankfully all that early hardship also molded me into a fighter, someone who won’t give up, regardless how big the obstacles on my path may be. Little by little, my brother Obdulio, my brother in law Francisco, and I became eligible for loans, which we used to expand our fincas, and to invest in our own wet mill and better agricultural practices.

This allowed us not only to increase our yield, but also to improve the razor thin margins that we initially were proposed for our coffees. Over the years, each of us has specialized in their own area. I have built a process and stocking area, where I process all our family’s coffees, but I also process coffee for nearby farmers.

My brother Obdulio and his wife Ana Beatriz have joined forces to grow an array of cultivars on different plots at varying altitudes, each with their own, unique micro-climate, which allows us to harvest during a prolonged season and to offer a wider range of beans and flavors.

Francisco and his son Javier are focusing on the quality and preparation of specialty coffees. Indeed, my nephew Javier (19) is studying to become a Q grader. His goal is to further diversify our Specialty offer and work in pairs with Q graders from our roaster partners, to propose micro-lots that are exclusively tailored to the wants and wishes of each individual roaster who partners with us.

Since a few years, I also roast my own coffee, mainly to cater to the needs of regional coffee-shops and supermarkets. And, of course, to have a cup at home with breakfast, or to enjoy after lunch. Although I remain as ambitious as ever and am working with my brothers on several plans to further develop our family’s fincas and offer, I am also immensely grateful for everything we have been given, and been able to achieve.

Farm facts:

My finca is FTO certified and located at 1.050 to 1.150 meters and I grow Pacas, Pacamara, Parainema, IHCAFE 90, and Lempira.

The total land area is 22,5 hectares and I have been working for many years to provide adequate shadow to the plants. There are typically local trees like roble, izote, guanagiquil, guamo, madreado, but I also planted banana trees and citric fruit trees.

The lime trees provide a particularly rich flavor to the nearby plants.

This farm is Rain Forest Alliance certified.