Luis Emilio Valladárez Zelaya has been producing his own coffee since 1960, beginning with a small lot which he received from his grandmother as an inheritance. Naming this lot ‘Buenos Aires’, Luis began farming at a time when access to the local mill or even the local town was particularly difficult, with all goods that come
in and out of the farm being transported by horseback. After receiving the Buenos Aires farm, he purchased a further 20 manzanas (14.1 hectares) which he named ‘San Juan’.

Luis now owns several coffee farms in Nicaragua, including Finca Miraflor, El Suyatal, Monte Libano, La Laguna and Finca Buenos Aires. Project Origin has been working closely with Luis’s farms since 2018, collaborating on processing techniques for several of his unique lots. All farms are designed to meet his vision of bringing together all aspects of the coffee producing chain, so that everyone in this chain may benefit, which aligns perfectly with Project Origin’s core values. Project Origin is a proud supporter of Luis and his family’s work and have shared these coffees with many roasters around the world, as well as collaborating with other local producers in Dipilto to share knowledge that Luis and his family have spent years developing. His coffee is grown, produced, and exported with international
roasters in mind, with the diversity and care in the lots from his farms providing a unique and delicious expression of the potential Nicaraguan coffees have to offer.