141 ARTICLES
Catracha Coffee Company and Uplifting Santa Elena Through Specialty Coffee
Mayra Orellana-Powell was born and raised in the remote community of Santa Elena in Honduras. Marcala, the closest large city, is about an hour’s drive away and is known for producing specialty coffee. In Santa Elena, coffee is a cash crop, and years ago most farmers simply picked their cherries and sold them to middlemen, who then sold them to larger companies in Marcala to create regional lots. In general, Santa Elena farmers had little opportunity for growth in coffee; every year, the process was the same: harvest cherries, sell them unprocessed at whatever low price buyers would pay, an...
