Honduras Santa Elena Catracha Herley Urquia – Lot A – 31970 – GrainPro Bags – SPOT RCWHSE

Coffee Background

This micro-lot was produced by Herley Urquia, one of the newest members of the Catracha producer group.  Herley’s coffee might be a new offering this year, but he has been part of Catracha’s success for the past several years because Herley runs the dry mill called Villa Florida where Catracha lots are prepared for export.  In addition to having a firsthand understanding about the quality of Catracha lots, Herley also has a passion for planting new cultivars, experimenting with processing innovations, and willingness to share his experience with the Catracha producer group.

Processing details

This Icatu cultivar was first developed in Brazil for its combination of cup quality, high yield and disease resistance. Herely planted this lot of Icatu at La Rosita, a 30 acre farm in the community of La Florida de Marcala.  After harvesting, selected ripe cherries were floated and macerated in water overnight, the next day the cherries were placed in sealed barrels with a corn based moonshine filling the two-way valve and macerated for another  24 hours.  Next the cherries were depulped and fermented in a ceramic tank for 18 hours, washed and placed on raised beds to dry over a 20 day period.

Social impact

Mayra Orellana-Powell founded Catracha Coffee Company to connect her coffee growing community with roasters. Ten years later, Catracha Coffee has gained momentum with more than 80 producers and 20 roasters working together on sustainable relationships and a profit sharing model, which has consistently paid at least $2.00 per pound directly to producers. This extra income helps increase each producer’s capacity to reinvest in their farm, and overtime, increase their standard of living.

The sale of Catracha Coffee also creates income for a non-profit called Catracha Community (a 501(1)(c)(3) nonprofit), which invests in income diversification opportunities without taking resources from a farmer’s bottomline.

Catracha Community hosts workshops for women and youth to learn craft making skills.  Like the coffee, the focus is on quality.  With the help of talented volunteers, the group has been able to make many beautiful things and sell them through our network of coffee friends. They even have a name for the group, Catracha Colectivo.

Catracha Community has also established an art residence and studio in Santa Elena to host artists from Honduras and around the world.   These artists have been running art classes two days a week.  Every week more than 30 children come and learn art.  Art is now popping up everywhere around Santa Elena.  There are more than 30 murals along the streets of Santa Elena, in peoples homes, and at many schools.

Catracha Community also funds gardening projects throughout Santa Elena.  David Benitez, a Catracha Coffee producer, agronomist and school teacher, provides technical advice to families starting gardens.  David is also growing seedlings and distributing to families, which has helped make seed more productive and easier for families to succeed at producing vegetables.

Funds from Catracha Community also support a local tree nursery, which produces 50,000 trees each year for Santa Elena’s communities and individuals asking for trees.  Funds are also used in coordination with students at the agroforestry highschool in Santa Elena to give technical support for tree planting and follow- up cleaning and maintenance.