Silvia Ventura Urías, Finca La Peña

I was born and raised to love coffee. Sometimes, I think that I may well have more coffee streaming through my veins than blood…

I am an only child – which is quite rare in Honduras – and my father loves me to death, as all great fathers do. So, he took me to the finca whenever he could and I remember very well how, as a small girl, I got up - secretly, I wouldn’t tell him - at 3 o’clock in the morning to sprinkle the plants when I was afraid that there hadn’t been enough rain in the weeks prior.

I also picked beans during the school holidays. But not only that, my father taught me how to care for nascent plants in our nursery, how to keep the finca clean, and everything else: processing and drying beans, picking the right beans, implementing protective measures against rust, and so much more.

Then, I decided that I wanted to become a Q-grader. To dive deeper into other, maybe even more complex aspects of creating the greatest coffees. Three years ago I passed my exam and now I work both as a graduated Q grader and a coffee grower.

It’s blissful as the combination allows me to be in the field as well as in the lab. To grow coffee, but also to play with it, experiment, and prepare lots that I think are dazzling in their richness and complexity. But I am still young and eager to further improve my skills, my knowledge and experience.

My father continues to teach me new things on our land every year, but nowadays I’m the one who helps him select the best beans, and prepare better micro-lots. I have a penchant for anaerobic processes. It’s arduous and somewhat risky, but if it works out well – and it does more often than not – it further elevates a great coffee’s profile with pronounced characteristics and a lingering aftertaste.

The developments in the world of coffee go so fast, who knows what we will be cupping ten years from now? As long as I’m part of the further evolvement of tastes and preferences, I’m in!

Farm facts

My own plot of land is small, 0,7 hectares, and it’s located at 1,290 meters. I prepare most of our coffees with beans from my father’s land.

The varieties are IHCAFE 90, and Pacas.

There’s lots of shadows from natural pine trees, but we also planted fruit trees like mango and banana, for our own consumption, for additional plant nutrients, and to enrich the flavors of our beans.

The finca is FTO certified.

This farm is Rain Forest Alliance certified.