HONDURAS FINCA EL JARDIN NATURAL

Finca El Jardin is located in the community of Ojos de Agua, Concepción de Soluteca, La Paz, Honduras, and is managed by Mario Mejia, a 24 year old, fourth-generation coffee grower. The farm consists of 32 hectares of land, sits at an elevation of 1,650 MASL, and boasts around 100,000 coffee trees in production of the Catuai, Pacas, IHCAFE90, Pacamara and a few special exotics he hopes to have in production in the coming years.

Mario Mejia is one of the youngest producers that The Coffee Quest works with in Honduras. At only 24 years, he took the mantle of Finca El Jardin from his father, and has managed the farm flawlessly ever since. He received a degree in agronomy, and began the specialty program in his region in January of 2019.

He’s the leader of the program, and introduces producers in the area to specialty coffee and teaches them about the advantages. It was in 2023 that he took it up a notch, building his own wet mill at the farm, and even started offering the service to producers in the program.

For this natural lot, the coffee is handpicked and put in grain-pro bags for 24 hours before being placed to dry. The coffee is dried on African beds, and depending on the weather and process, can take between 15 and 30 days (due to the cold/elevation).

This is our first coffee from Mario Mejia and we're excited to see more from this young producer. This lot is creamy and sweet, with rich notes of caramel and stonefruit.