La Hermita

This farm is owned by Mario Jordan Duarte. Located in the slopes of Sierra de las Minas in Zacapa in one of the driest parts of the country. Mario who claims that his ancestors were Spanish and German tells us that in 1860 his great grandfather Guillermo Duarte and a group of miners from Europe came to the are in search of precious metals. Soon afterwards, his son Luciano Duarte Martinez and others brought coffee seeds to the town of Alotepeque to try their luck on the hot new commodity. 20 years after torrential rains and mud slides devastated the town of Alotepeque and Concepcion las minas. Mario tells us that his great grandfather had a government concession to extract precious minerals from that land. Mario´s parents continued with Luciano Duarte coffee plantations in a place that is now called La Hermita. In 2000 Mario Jordan who is now 63 takes care of the farm and coffee plantation.

The total area of the farm today is 77 hectares and 57 of those are planted with coffee. Mario has 5 kids and 2 of them are helping them out in the management of the farm. One of his kids is learning to cup and pushing his dad into implementing best practices.