Our Coffee Farm + Future Cafe, Copán Ruinas, HND

[AdventureCopan]

I hope this is the right place for this... I was wanting to start "who we are and what we are doing thread". Let me know if I've picked the wrong spot. Thanks!

So we are a family owned business as missions coffee company and we have been working on it for about the last 7 years with our fair share of mistakes. My wife and I love missions and business so out of that came Adventure Copán. We have 16+ acres in Santa Rita, Honduras which is just 20min outside of Copán Ruinas, HND. Copán is a tourist town know for the Mayan Ruins.

Our plants are going on 4 years old and we have approx 22k of them, with an additional 5k we just planted. Our coffee plants are shade grown and we try to use as many organic practices as we can. We currently live in DFW, Tx. and next year we are planning to move to HND and run everything. At that point we are going to open a coffee shop in Copán. We are working towards getting everything ready for all that. I will post some pics of our coffee and equipment as we go.

Thanks! -Daniel Kent

 

[AdventureCopan]

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[ensoluna]

Congrats, Daniel. (same name as my Guatemalan partner :+)
exactly when next year you are planning to move to Honduras?
i can see that you will produce about 200 bags of 100lbs of cafe oro from your farm which is about 40% of a 20' container.
can you give us some more info on your coffee?
Copan, HND is very close to Guatemala and if your beans are SHB 82/83 for good espresso blends and some good micro lots with single varietals, perhaps we can be a partner in some way.
thanks Daniel
PS: say Hello to Dorothy and your two little ones.

 

[AdventureCopan]

Hey bud!

Thanks! We hope to move no later than Jan. 2017 and the plan is sooner than later if possible. We are always open to working relationships! As for type of coffee, it's Honduran, Limpira and the newest one I can't remember. Our manager/partner on the ground handles most of the coffee decisions (as far as what's best to plant). I know we chose ones that were the most resilient to the rust issue. We were not interested in loosing our crop just out the door. We are working on buying more land in the future and planting a higher grade coffee once we are making some money.

We are buying some processing equipment this year as this is our first good yield. We have a good majority of coffee shop stuff because we bought out a coffee shop in the U.S. going out of business. So we got their roaster, expresso and coffee machines, etc.

We are considering financial partners if you know anyone interested we are open to talking. Hope to meet up someday!
-Daniel Kent


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[Mr.Peaberry]

Great pictures, Daniel, thanks for posting them and letting us live out our own coffee adventure vicariously through your posts!!! Seven years is a long time, and not an insignificant investment of your time. I'm sure you'll find plenty of support here. Will members here be able to purchase directly from you. I know Alex has explained a rather complex and expensive process in Guatemala for just shipping out samples to prospective buyers. Once you open a cafe, will that allow you to do internet sales and circumvent the type of regulations in place for the exportation of green coffee?

Best of luck for you and your family in your endeavors.

 

[AdventureCopan]

Thank you! Yes it's been a long and at times back breaking venture! As an American starting a business from ground up in another country its hard to say the least. Between making the company official, trademarking the name, titling land, etc. it's a lot of work. However I have one of the greatest and most supportive wives on the planet!!

Our business end goal is to control every aspect of our coffee from plant to cup. However our preliminary research on getting our export license says it's going to be hard! So as for now we will sell locally through green sales and in our cafe. It is on my radar to ultimately ship to the U.S., roast, bag and sell online. I'm not sure if we can get around the system (get around with loop holes).

-Daniel Kent


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[AdventureCopan]

Here's some of the coffee we just planted...

As a low budget, self funded company we are making as much of the stuff we need as possible. I'm building a Hario pour over stand now for the cafe. It still needs screws, glue, stain and sealer.

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[peterjschmidt]

Daniel, I can't tell you how excited I am for you and your endeavor, especially since I get the feeling it is driven by a mission-minded heart and is already reaping rewards for God's kingdom! There isn't much I can offer to help you, other than praying, which I will gladly do.

 

[AdventureCopan]

Thank you!! Yes the sole purpose is to further the Kingdom. We work with local churches in HND to start programs to feed children weekly while ministering to them. We hope to really make some great changes once we are there and can oversee things. The goal is once the farm and cafe actually turns a profit we hope to give upwards of 50% of the profit towards helping the people through programs. We focus on programs where we help others in the beginning, but equip them to ultimately help themselves. We will gladly take any prayer!!!

-Daniel Kent


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[ensoluna]

. Our manager/partner on the ground handles most of the coffee decisions (as far as what's best to plant). I know we chose ones that were the most resilient to the rust issue. We were not interested in loosing our crop just out the door.

hello Daniel.
please be careful which varietals your manager plants. you said "most resilient to the rust issue" and whether you know it or not, in this case, there are plus and minus.
the varietals for rust resilient are Catimor or Catuai. these two are most well known for rust resilient in Central America, however, they are least likely to be sold as specialty coffee.

Because no matter how well you grow those two varietals and how carefully you process (wet process), they will never be able to sell as Specialty coffee (over 85 SCAA point) due to the characteristics of the varietals. On the other hand, Bourbon / Typica / even Caturra can be close to 88 to 89 points, so you can sell for much higher pricing.

I do not know the altitude of your farm, but let's say that your farm produces 82/83 grade of SHB with Catuai and Catimor (BTW, you have to do "excellent wet process" to achieve 82/83 with Catuai. and for Catimor, the best best point you can get is around 80 point), then, you can only get Coffee "C" pricing plus differentials which is around $50. right now, C pricing is $128. so you can get about $178 per 100 lbs of cafe oro.
however, if you can produce some great specialty coffee with good varietals, you can get between $300 to $400 per 100 lbs of cafe oro.

so, please look into it. and since your farm is not so big, even if you plan some good varietals, if you take care of them carefully, you can avoid coffee rust.

thanks and good luck.

 

[AdventureCopan]

Thanks for the heads up. I was told by others in country the ones we planted were a good/great coffee. I intend to fill the rest up with a higher grade. I currently only have 9 acres planted out of 18. I'm hoping to buy the connecting 20 acres in the future.


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[ensoluna]

Thanks for the heads up. I was told by others in country the ones we planted were a good/great coffee. I intend to fill the rest up with a higher grade. I currently only have 9 acres planted out of 18. I'm hoping to buy the connecting 20 acres in the future.


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hello Daniel.
please find out what varietals you have in your farm. that is very important point for future processing and sales to overseas.
also, depends on varietals (some needs more space and some don't), you need to plan how many you need to plant new coffee shrubs.

you said that you have 22K coffee trees in your land which is 9 acres. that is way way way too many.
normally, there should be between 800 to 1200 coffee trees per acre, depends on varietals. Most coffee trees/shrubs need space to grow and to maximize the harvest.
also, if they are too much together, then, harvest will be pain in the butt and a lot will be lost (deep inside of trees).....

Since Copan is close to Guatemala, I am just assuming that your land/varietals/climate are similar to Guatemala.

 

[AdventureCopan]

Our peak is 3k ft up and temps range between 60-90f. As for spacing, the 9 acres is approx. however they are planted about the same distance as the majority of the farms. My research in #Coffee textbooks led me to believe 2,500-3,500 was pretty normal depending on type. Guess time will tell... Defiantly appreciate the info! All future planting has halted until we move there as I want to be more in the loop and its SOOOO hard to run a foreign business when your not there!!!
-Daniel Kent


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[ensoluna]

hello daniel
it seems like your farm is situated rather bit low altitude.
in order to get SHB 82/83 or specialty beans, the altitude must be over 4500 ft and temp is between 45 to 75F (or top 80F max). lower altitude with higher temp cause the beans to mature faster/earlier without distinctive flavor characteristics, producing softer beans.

FOR YOU, IT WILL BE EXTREMELY IMPORTANT TO EVALUATE ABOUT YOUR LAND/COFFEE/TYPE OF COFFEE (SUCH AS Prime, extra prime, semi hard bean, hard bean, Strictly hard bean and specialty beans).

as example, 3000 ft altitude with up to 90F, planting bourbon or typica will be waste because the weather/temp/altitude will not permit the beans to be SHB or specialty coffee.

 

[AdventureCopan]

Again I appreciate the info. I have had the beans rated the last time I was there and they rated 78, but I was told by the evaluators the low number was due to the way the guys washed everything and they felt I could reach at least 82.

At this point in time there is little I can do in regards to what is already planted and since we have stopped more planting the most prudent thing to do is keep everything healthy and move forward till I move there.

The more money I invest in it now the longer it takes for me to move there since I don't own a money tree I have to conserve cash...Lol. I've spent to long here in the U.S. while others are there running things, so for me moving is top priority at this point.

It may sound stupid to some, but I have faith in my manager that he made the best decision and in my God that He will work it all out for my good. I will check on what you pointed out, but I'm not going to sweat it at this point.

Thank you again! -Daniel Kent




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