27 El Itacayo Honduras 2023

Angel Arturo Paz Ramírez is the owner of Finca El Itacayo, located 1600 m.a.s.l. in the village of La Union, Municipality of Santa Barbara, Department of Santa Barbara.He has been dedicated to coffee growing for several years and decided to acquire this lot to cultivate an exotic variety to obtain differentiated profiles. It currently employs six people permanently, those who are dedicated to cleaning, pruning, nutrition, and other good practices, mainly doing it by hand, using the minimum amount of chemical inputs.He uses living barriers to preserve the environment. Angel is very meticulous in taking care of the farm, maintaining a good percentage of shade using trees such as guamo, sile, walnut and avocado. It also performs fertilizations on a regular basis and is supported by soil analysis, for the optimal combination of nutrients.Angel considers that factors such as the microclimate where the parcel is located, the special rain conditions, the natural shade due to the cloudy environment, the quality of the soil and the exotic variety – Geisha – he is growing, are decisive factors that contribute to differentiate his coffee. He considers that the Cup of Excellence program is one of the few programs that have come to our country and have had a real, strong and positive impact on specialty coffees and that it has come to change the lives of many small producers. His experience in the Cup of Excellence cup is very good. This is the seventh time he has participate in the auction. More than the important income through the auction, it is satisfactory to know the impact on the region and on the region's economy.