At Catracha Coffee Company in Santa Elena, Honduras, Mayra Orellana-Powell and Lowell Powell are always thinking about how they can continue to support coffee farmers and help them improve and maintain quality at their farms. During our visit in 2019, we had the opportunity to visit Sulma Siomara’s family farm. While Sulma was unfortunately out of town during our visit, her husband Jorge was able to show us around. The farm sits on the slope of a hill, and trees are lined up in rows so that it’s easier for picking cherries. While walking through the farm, Jorge showed us some trees with coffee rust. He said that coffee rust has been near impossible to get rid of, but proper tree pruning and regular maintenance has made it possible to keep the disease from spreading. Their farm maintenance process has proven well in the cup. In our third year of carrying their coffee, it consistently delivers sweet notes of white grape, orange pekoe, and sugarcane.
A view of the mountains from Sulma’s Farm
Getting a tour of the Sulma’s farm with Jorge, Sulma husband. From left to right: Corazon, Jorge, Xander
To keep their trees healthy, Sulma and Jorge also incorporate organic fertilizer that is produced in Santa Elena by Catracha Coffee. Known as bokashi, the fertilizer is a mixture of limestone, chicken manure, ash, volcanic sand, coffee pulp, waste water from washing coffee (rich in mucilage), worm compost microorganisms, and wheat bran. To further promote organic practices, Catracha Coffee also holds workshops for farmers to create other organic solutions to use on the farm. Workshops include teaching producers how to make natural fungicide from sulfur and lime to fight leaf rust, and making a “compost tea” full of micro-oraganisms that can be sprayed on soil and plants to help breakdown nutrients in the soil.
Coffee trees on Sulma’s farmed, neatly lined up for easy picking!
Also known as roya, coffee rust is a disease that produces brown, powdery spots on leaves. As the foliage starts to wither away, the coffee tree will produce less and less cherries.
In 2014, Catracha launched the Catracha Quality Project (CQP). This is a coffee data collection project aimed at helping producers in Santa Elena understand how their processing decisions impact their coffee. Data loggers and pH meters are being used during the harvest to collect data from the depulping, fermentation, and drying stages. Samples from each day of processing are collected and evaluated (cupped). The cupping data is compared to the farm data, and they share this information and their conclusions with farmers throughout the year during capacity building events. The farmers are then able to use this information to help them make decisions on processing methods for the next harvest.
Green coffee drying on raised beds in a solar drier. Farmers who use these driers in Santa Elena will dry their coffees for approximately two weeks. This slow drying method will allow the coffees to be more stable and have a better shelf life for roasters. Farmers record temperature readings by using a thermometer (top right) and submit this data for the Catracha Quality Project.
Mayra and Lowell firmly believe that sharing knowledge and information is key to helping farmers produce high quality coffees and earn more per pound. There are over 400 small farms producing coffee in Santa Elena, many of which are not yet a part of Catracha Coffee and sell their cherries (unprocessed coffee) to middlemen. By sharing knowledge, helping farmers learn how to process their own coffees, and providing tools and resources for improvement, Mayra and Lowell hope that the farmers feel empowered to make informed decisions on how to manage their farms. Their goal is to continue their capacity building opportunities until every producer in Santa Elena has the opportunity to produce high quality coffee and access the specialty market. We have no doubt that, in time, Catracha Coffee will be able to achieve their goal. When they launched in 2010, there were 13 producers who were a part of Catracha Coffee. That number has now grown to 91!
To purchase a bag of Sulma Siomara’s Coffee, click on the following link:
https://www.andytownsf.com/purchase/honduras-sulma-siomara-catracha
