El Primero Café

I have some shocking news. . . . I have completed the first cup of coffee in my life. I have to admit that I soaked half of it in cookies, and the “cup” was a pretty small one, but still. . . . it counts for me. Warning: Don’t expect this to continue in Canada.

chickens chillin with the cattle

On Thursday afternoon Brandon (Calgary), Raymond (Norway), Edwin (teacher), and myself took the 30 minute journey by car to Guacamaya, a worker owned organic cooperative. I visited this place last time I was in Honduras, but it was worth it to go back. They have about 42 workers, and I was there just in time to see the last main shipment of coffee for the year. About 40% of the coffee gets exported to the U.S. and Holland.

Raw Product

Every single bean is inspected by hand, and they have pretty strict rules on what is acceptable and what gets rejected. They also burn the shells of the coffee beans for energy, thus reducing the need for wood in the production process. Who could have guessed it? Smart efficiency without “magical shiny new technology,” and dare I say it probably a better use of resources.

Behold

The coffee grows all along the mountains, and it would take 3.5 hours to walk to the edge.  We got to walk around one of the farms and look at some of their growing techniques. It’s is pretty cool to see how they combine different plants in the same space that mutually benefit each other. 

coffee growing with plantaines and much more

 Finally, to seal the deal on awesomeness; the coffee bags are hand made in-house.

 Needless to say, I give this place a big thumbs up!

stamp of approval