Maria Adela's Coffee & Catracha's Third Payment Initiative

If you’ve been following Andytown for a while, you’re familiar with Maria Adela of Santa Elena, Honduras. Her coffee has become a staple for us and we’re always excited when we can bring it back to our menu. When we first purchased her coffee in 2016, she was only able to produce 4 bags of coffee. But over the years, improvements she’s made to her coffee operations have allowed her to increase her production to 10 bags–that’s more than double! She resurfaced the fermentation tank in her wet mill and added a washing channel to help lower the risk of coffee damage, resurfaced her patio and added a raised bed to dry coffee, and purchased a motor to run her coffee depulper. In the last few years, she’s put more effort into managing her farm by diligently tending to her trees and using natural fungicide to protect her plants from leaf rust. Her farm now serves as a model farm for other farmers who are looking to improve their own farms. 

View of the sunset from Adela’s home and processing station. She uses the cement drying patio to sort cherries before loading it into the hopper of the mill on the right, where the cherries are depulped, then go into the canal with running water. The coffee is then soaked in water and left to ferment to remove the mucilage from the coffee, and is washed again before being left to dry on raised beds inside the parabolic drier. The plastic covering over the drying beds allows the green coffee to dry more slowly and evenly.

Our relationship with Maria Adela wouldn’t be possible without our partnership with Catracha Coffee Company, founded by Mayra Orellana-Powell. She was born and raised in Santa Elena, located in the remote mountains of Honduras. Growing up, she saw first hand what it meant to work collectively and empower the community through her grandmother, Adelina–a coffee producer, teacher, and community leader. Wanting to follow in her grandmother’s footsteps, Mayra started Catracha Coffee Company with her husband Lowell in 2010 to help farmers improve their livelihoods by gaining access to the specialty coffee market.

Mayra and Lowell firmly believe that by sharing knowledge, tools, and resources, farmers will be able to make more informed decisions on how to manage their coffee farms. This 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. Catracha’s 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 will be able to achieve this goal. They started working with only 13 producers in 2010, and now they are working with nearly 100 farmers in Santa Elena!

Maria Adela rotating coffee beans on the raised drying beds inside the solar dryer. Raking and rotating the beans ensures even drying and prevents the development of mold and other defects. The solar dryer has two purposes: it protects the coffees from any harsh changes in weather patterns, and it also regulates the temperature inside so that coffees are dried evenly and consistently. This is essential to producing high quality green coffee that will maintain its freshness over a longer period of time.

Catracha makes two payments to producers: the first is when Catracha buys the coffee from farmers in Honduras, and the second payment is made when the coffee is sold, in which Catracha shares their profits. For the 2021 harvest (which was featured in our menu from winter 2021 to late spring 2022) we joined Catracha in their Third Payment Initiative: for every retail bag that is sold, $1 will go back to Catracha and will be split three ways between Maria Adela, coffee pickers, and an emergency medical care response fund to help producers who are dealing with unexpected expenses from a medical emergency. Essentially, this third payment is funded by consumers and is Catracha’s solution to coffee drinkers who have thought about “tipping the farmer.” By having payment built into the price of the coffee, Catracha is able to communicate to customers the specific issues they are addressing and what the cost of participation is.

From the previous harvest, Andytown collected a total of $1316 for the Third Payment. We transferred funds via paypal at Catracha’s request, since it was the easiest and quickest way to make funds available to them. There was a $39.95 transfer fee, and after this, a total of $1276.65 was the final number of funds available. Payment was split three ways: 10,500 HNL Honduran Lempiras ($428.57) went to Maria Adela; 10,425 HNL ($425.55) went to the Third Payment Picker Fund, and 10,425 HNL ($425.55) was deposited into a savings account for the Third Payment Emergency Fund. This information will be made available on Blockchain Coffee Beans later this year. Catracha is working alongside Denver based NGO iDE and the digital supply chain company Bext360 to explore the use of blockchain technology on the coffee supply chain. While the website is under construction, we should see a new landing page by autumn and receive updates from Catracha on new ways they are collecting data, how Andytown can contribute to data collection, and how this information can be made easily accessible to our customers.

We hope that we can beat our numbers from last year and contribute more to the Third Payment Initiative for the 2022 harvest, by selling more retail bags versus roasting and serving the coffee in house. But we can only do this with your help! For every retail bag that you purchase, we will collect $1 for the Third Payment Fund. Adela’s coffee reminds us of white grape, maduros–friend sweet plantain–and milk chocolate. With a heavier coffee to water ratio, it has a sweet and velvety mouthfeel that reminds us of a peanut butter cup. It’s a substantial, reliable coffee that can sweeten anyone’s morning!

Portrait of Maria Adela Nolasco by Nahún Rodríguez