I had decided to go to Honduras, in the Copan region, to visit the cooperative
Cafetalera Capucas , regarding which I had received very positive feedback from various sources, not only for the quality of their coffees but also for their contemporary and forward-thinking ethical management choices.
It was 2013, and so, together with some colleagues and friends, towards the end of November, I set off.
I had had the opportunity to purchase, through a Spanish importer, some bags from the Capucas cooperative a couple of years prior and I had noticed that, despite Honduras growing not exceptional varieties selected for their very humid climate and to combat leaf diseases, their beans were very uniform, clean, and without defects.
The cup was characterized by a good body, a decent complexity, and a lot of sweetness, qualities suitable for making a good espresso. Additionally, I really liked being able to purchase traceable coffee, with an identity, knowing and understanding who cultivated and processed it.
Until the early 2000s, when my husband and I embarked on the adventure that saw us for 25 years among the Italian roasters promoting specialty coffee, it was very difficult, if not impossible, to find coffee traceable to a producer.
The global coffee market, for the most part still today, is based on the idea of commodity rather than agricultural product and therefore food;
Coffee is the second most traded commodity in the world.
And it is the reference tropical commodity, traded on the stock market, so it matters little who produces it and how.
This was therefore a good opportunity to see up close how a large cooperative like Capucas could function, which gathered more than nine hundred members. With a flight from Paris and a stopover in Atlanta, we arrived in San Pedro Sula, considered one of the most dangerous cities in the world, where, for the first time in my life, I saw signs at the entrance of public places prohibiting access to weapons and alcohol!
After a car trip of about three hours, we arrived in Santa Rosa de Copan, not too far from the ruins of Copan, and in another hour reached the Capucas Coffee Cooperative, founded in 1999 by Jose Omar Rodriguez Romero, who still leads it as general manager and with whom a great friendship has been formed.
The cooperative is located in the area of Celaque Mountain, which is the highest peak in Honduras at 2870 m, in a dense forest that is a park and represents a great water reserve due to the large presence of rivers within it. In the local language, Celaque means ‘water container’. The ecosystem is rich in biodiversity, and this is naturally a good thing.
Life on a coffee plantation is marked by contact with nature, or nature
In Latin America, there is a high value placed on spirituality and isolation; however, the prospects, especially for young people, are truly limited, considering that, in most cases, coffee is grown in economically, socially, and politically disadvantaged countries.
Omar, who graduated in Agronomy in Honduras, to prevent the forced departure of young people from the cooperative, has encouraged relationships, not only commercial but also cultural and educational, with scholars and scientists, making the cooperative available for research and experiments related to agroforestry, forestry engineering, and soil maintenance studies. Furthermore, to ensure a university education, he has signed an agreement with the Autonomous University of Honduras so that teachers, study materials, and technical support could be provided to establish virtual classrooms in the plantation.
When I arrived in Las Capucas, a soccer field and the clinic with a constant presence of a doctor had just been completed, to ensure free medical assistance.
Omar, with the help of some of the other founding members, has contributed over the years to organizing the cooperative in such a way as to give space to producers who are more inclined and interested in highlighting their finca and their coffee, ensuring for everyone, at the same time, qualitative growth, not only in economic terms but also in global lifestyle. Naturally, the coffee that is harvested must guarantee a minimum qualitative standard to fall under the category of specialty coffee, achieved also thanks to the continuous exchange of information, access to training, and credit. In addition to the internal beneficiation system, an essential process for obtaining the beverage, there is the nursery for seedlings and the seminar, where the beans are germinated and where I experienced the excitement of planting them myself, and there are areas dedicated to maintaining biodiversity.
One of these areas hosts the
Melipona, the stingless bees
Which I then saw in Peru and which are widespread throughout the tropical belt. There are about 70 species, and in addition to producing excellent liquid honey, they are important pollinators and their large hives are visible almost everywhere. In Las Capucas, numerous hives are housed in a large wooden structure, where pollen and propolis are also collected along with the honey.
Coffee in Las Capucas grows in the shade, among mango and papaya trees, among oranges, lemons, and mandarins, which enriches and revitalizes the soil, and as a result, the coffee cherries mature slowly and produce beans of extreme density and consistency that yield complex and rich cups, much like the people I have known and to whom I am still strongly connected by friendship.
