Over the past five years, Honduras has been gradually wrestling attention away from its neighbours and onto its own abundant offerings of highgrade specialty and certified coffees. Honduran coffee farming started in 1804 in the department of Comayagua, and today it is the country’s main agricultural export, making it vital to the country’s economy and the livelihoods of many families. There are approximately 120,000 registered coffee farmers, around 98% of which are smallholders with an average farm size between 2 -3 hectares. It is estimated that during the harvest season, the Honduran coffee industry directly employs 1 million people, almost 13% of the population.
Our origin operation, Molinos de Honduras, is the oldest existing coffee exporter in Honduras. Their story started on September 6th, 1960, when a local Honduran family formed the company to mill coffee and other commodities. Since the end of the 1980s, Molinos has been fully owned by the Volcafe Group. Today, the company is dedicated exclusively to coffee, operates mills in San Pedro Sula, Santa Rosa de Copán, and Comayagua, and receives coffee at buying stations in San Nicolas and El Paraíso. Despite the traditional approach of selling to intermediaries (“middlemen”), Molinos has successfully moved to a direct purchasing model, enabling us to reach even the most rural locations and to buy in both cherry and parchment. This improves access and quality, increases income for farmers, and creates a direct relationship for both parties.