Elmer Mancía and Aristides Santos Washed

We, the 250+ members who together form ‘CAFESMO’, have been collaborating for many years, and have formalized our cooperation in 2016. Our individual fincas are relatively small, most of them ranging roughly from 2 to 12 hectares, but united we stand strong, and together we stand for our motto: ‘diversity and quality’.

All of our finca’s are FTO certified. Even more importantly: through careful selection, we are slowly perfecting the varieties that we grow on specific altitudes or soils, as well as our growing techniques, and are now able to offer an expanding array of specialty profiles. In the beginning of 2019, we have exported our first container of micro-lots, to the United Kingdom. 

The area where we cultivate coffee, a large zone around the hills of Mercedes, is located in the very south of Honduras, a stone’s throw from El Salvador and Guatemala. Our plantations are protected by some of the country’s highest peaks. 

On the west side, Cerro Pital proudly towers above our fincas, and on the other flanks, Guisayote National Reserve and the Pacayita volcano create ideal conditions to grow coffee. The omnipresence of mountains creates highly beneficial micro-climates, as well as a diverse fauna and flora on and around the plantations, with plentiful natural shade.

The region of Ocotepeque is furthermore known for its rich soil and perfect altitude range to grow unique, richly flavored coffees. We are convinced that Mercedes and Ocotepeque will continue to gain in fame over the next few years, and deservedly so.

Our members grow coffee between 950 and 2,000 meter (3,100 to 6,500ft), though most of the land is located between 1,200 and 1,600 meters. Thanks to this varied topography, we have a long harvest season, that starts late October and lasts until March. 

Our Coffee Varieties includes: Pacas, Lempira, Parainema, Catuaí, Obatá, Colombia, IHCAFE90…

We have our own wet mill and dry mill and for our specialty coffees we prepare fully washed, semi-washed, red honey, black honey, and natural lots. More recently, we have started to work with Carbonic Maceration (Anaerobic), which has resulted in some of our best profiles yet. So, we have decided to increase our focus on anaerobic preparations, because we are simply in love with the richness and breadth of the profiles we get from it. 

Our motto is ‘diversity and quality’ and that not only goes for our coffees. Our members are also a diverse group and each stands for their own quality. We have young people as well as less young members, women and men, someone who is a microbiologist, and one who has been an elementary school teacher his whole adult life, next to growing coffee.