The Gift of Coffee

Finding purpose, fulfillment and joy in your work is a true blessing. 

Coffee has given me this gift. Beyond a cup of a delicious drink I truly enjoy and savour, coffee evokes faces, places, sharing moments and stories of passion, struggles and accomplishments  with people involved in all aspects of the coffee value chain, from the producer all the way to that cup, prepared by experts hands at your favorite coffee shop or by your mom at home. 

With Bernardo, at Capucas, Honduras

My first memories of coffee are of my early mornings at home, waking up to the aroma that filled my mom's house. I remember the sight of coffee drying in the patio at my grandmothers house in Gracias, and as a honduran, coffee meant Cafe con Pan - sweet bread dipped into coffee. Little or nothing did I know at the time of everything that happened behind the pot of coffee that was a part of my every morning. 

In 2010, while leading the export promotion efforts of Honduras' trade promotion agency, we began to focus on organic products and I was honored to meet for the first time a group of pioneering coops from western Honduras: Capucas, Coprocael, RAOS, COMUCAP and COMSA. I immediately connected with the coop members and was in awe of their vision and passion. My role was to procure the programs and funding that would allow us to have a promotional platform at the main organic trade shows, while supporting their marketing and promotional efforts and assisting them with translation and follow up to the meeting with buyers. These were the first steps towards direct trade for many of these coops, and looking in hindsight, I am honored and humbled to have worked with them at that time.  I feel great admiration for the enormous growth and professionalization they have achieved over the years. 

While at the Biofach in Nuremberg that February 2010, one evening after work I shared with Miriam Pérez, " My father would be so happy to know I am working alongside organic producers."

"Who was your father?" , she asked. I answered, "Elias Sánchez." It turns out that she and her husband Rodolfo, had met my father and had received training with him in organic practices and in his philosophy of the Human Farm of which I will write in another post. My connection became stronger and more meaningful as I realized my father had also worked with them. I knew there was a true purpose in our paths crossing. 

What followed where many years of work in more specialized efforts, from branding, to export coaching programs, and my exposure to coffee coops and companies in Honduras grew, as well as my contact with coffee export companies, mills, and with a great team of professionals at the Honduran Institute of Coffee, working in Marketing, Quality and Productivity. I met  and worked with many coops and companies,  Aruco, Cocafelol, Cocaerol, BEO, Honducafé, Coffee Planet, Beneficio Santa Rosa, PAOLT, 18 Conejo, among others.  I became involved with international donor programs from the European Union, Switzerland, Canada, Japan, Spain with its Coffee Project led at the time by Diana Osorto, whom I had only talked to by phone- the goal was to further differentiate Honduras'  specialty coffee and to carefully showcase all of the work the producers, mills and exporters were doing to export quality coffee and improve the perception of Honduran coffee. 

My work also allowed me to connect with coffee importers, distributors, coffee roasters, and coffee professionals in many countries of the world, to learn about their experiences, their quality requirements and the challenges they faced with regards to their trade relations with origin. 

I experienced the unique human factor that defines a special segment of this industry, something that is very important to remember in the midst of this challenging time when the C market has seen prices so low as to even cover cost of production, much less provide much needed and deserved profits for farmers who are investing in order to produce quality coffee to provide for their families. Genuine care. 

Best Coffee Vibes with Melito, Christian and Eduardo. Capucas, Honduras 

As I got ready to leave for my first SCAE show in 2013, I had the chance to meet Arnold Paz  who shared so much knowledge and experience and his love and commitment to specialty coffee... It was inspiring! He also sent an email to his friends in Europe and elsewhere letting them know I would be in Nice for the show and this is how I met amazing people in the industry, like Enza, Paolo and Valentina Dallacorte  and Francesco Sanapo, among others. I met Maria Esther Lopez during this trip and she has become  an inspiration... Five years later she is working on amazing projects with her husband Dylan Thome and she is roasting beautiful honduran coffee at Cafe Registrado in Argentina,  from Catracha Coffee , a social company led by Mayra Orellana Powell, an amazing fellow honduran whom I met through Facebook when I invited her to come to the first  Coffee Quality Festival in El Paraíso in 2015. Coffee is an amazing conduit. 

In 2017 I had the privilege to be a part of the team at Mayorga Organics, whom I had met  through their work with Capucas . With a focus on farmers and producers, my work with Mayorga allowed me to grow in knowledge about supply chain and direct trade and to see how it is possible for the market to work with purpose and passion to impact in a positive manner the lives of producers, while providing exceptional products and service to  consumers and involving them in the company's passion and purpose. Through this work I had the honor of meeting producers and coops in Bolivia, Perú, Colombia, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panamá, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico. Many of the challenges faced are the same, yet there is also such rich knowledge and experience which can be shared among producers to grow and learn from each other.

Coffee has connected me to exceptional people, not only producers and buyers, I have met coffee professionals, trainers, cuppers, consultants, service providers, baristas.  I have had the privilege of accompanying the promotional efforts of many coops and companies in numerous trade shows and business matchmaking events around the world and it is rewarding to see that many of these commercial ties that have flourished over the years. People have been extremely generous with me and have taught me so much and shared their stories, their knowledge and experience with me. It makes me happy to think and recall that to the best of my ability I have also shared with others and connected many persons working in coffee, in Honduras and beyond. 

My coffee tree/Finca Mar y Cielo ( Marcelo :) )  at Finca Las Naciones, Capucas

We recently celebrated International Coffee Day, the National Coffee Farming Day in Honduras and the beginning of the harvest season in some regions in Colombia and Central America. It is a great moment to reflect and remind ourselves what is the heart and essence of our work. 

As I continue my work in coffee, now from MarketAble, I am excited and committed to continue promoting meaningful connections that can result in long term commercial relations and lasting friendships. Next stops, coming up in November:  the Café Show in Seoul and the Coffee Expo in Taipei.  Please let me know if you will be at any of these shows! 

Coffee cherries and flowers, Perú

Honduras Coffee, Mr. Brown Coffee, Taipei