We traveled to Honduras in May of 2018 to hunt for coffees and make new friends. It was a five-day trip, and we spent over twenty hours driving throughout the mountainous coffee country of Honduras. The days were very long and exhausting, but the coffees we found were incredible. Finca La Concepción was the first coffee we released as a direct result of this trip, and we're excited to continue that relationship for another season.
Finca La Concepcion is a beautiful farm located in Marcala, Honduras. In my mind, it is located near the half way point of a long drive from Gracias to Comayagua (I was fortunate enough to have the back-middle seat of a Toyota Hilux for this part of the journey). My excitement of having a break from driving was soon overtaken by the beauty of Finca La Concepcion. We were greeted by Manuel Pereira Melgar, the farm owner. Within minutes of meeting Manuel, we knew we had found a kindred spirit. Manuel is not a man of convention as he has questioned nearly every aspect of his farm and its practices. It was clear that Manuel considers the biodiversity of the entire farm as he toils to produce high quality coffee. There were gardens full of fruit trees and vegetables, bee hives, and a thriving composting operation to fuel his natural/organic farming practices.
Manuel started experimenting with processing methods in 2015, including varying fermenting periods, honey and natural processes. Manuel found that the honey process produced the best results. The majority of his coffees this past harvest cycle were honey processed, allowing significantly less water to be used in production. As with any processing or experiment, the proof is in the cup…we taste guava jam, nectarine and chocolate mouse."
-David Blanchard
“We called the farm La Concepcion to honor my dad, who was the person that taught us to work in coffee. We are the second generation.”
-Manuel Pereira Melgar
