Specialty coffee producer Maria Eva Lopez has created a beautiful house with her family in the coffee producing region of El Picacho, Masaguara. Producing coffee has not been the easiest feat - it is a big effort with prices being low and little support provided to those who grow and curate the cherries. Her family have been a great support to keep them in the business of coffee agriculture, but it has not come without sacrifice.

On the farm, Maria specialises in washed processing. She and her family maintain the farm using Cuma, machete and azadon (hoe), and use organic matter as well as fertiliser formulas to enrich the soils. By selling her coffee as a specialty product, Maria has been able to charge higher prices for her work, which leads to a more stable income for the family, and with this now a possibility, she hopes to be able to save up to construct her own solar dryers, and continue supporting her family. The reason why we value our contact with our on the ground exporting partner, Rony Gamez, is because he finds and supports producers like Maria. By connecting her to us, we have access to great tasting specialty coffee, and she has access to a market willing to pay better prices for her quality of work. Rony also provides agricultural support along side his networking offering. And this connectivity and purpose brings us a lot of joy when offering roasters coffees like this one.