CABALLERO

Don Fabio Caballero inherited large areas of land in around Marcala from his father, who was one of the pioneers of coffee cultivation in Honduras. After handing over some of his land to his daughter Marysabel Caballero and her husband Moises Herrera, they have been expanding land and now run 17 farms that form the Caballero estate.

Caballero coffees are being processed at their beneficio Xinacla (wet mill). It is a central mill where they deliver cherries from each farm and process the coffees. They usually keep each farms production separate but when the volume is too small from the days pickings, they can also combine pickings from different farms.

Huge investments were made into the processing and lot segmentation of the farm. Marysabel and Moises are internationally highly recognised for their excellence. They work with world champions and coffee experts to continuously push their coffee quality up. It is no surprise that Caballero has won the Cup of Excellence in Honduras.

Local pickers are hired and trained to only select the ripest cherries. After de-pulping the coffees are being dry-fermented for 12 hours. Then washed in channels to sort out floaters and undeveloped beans. All coffee is slowly dried on raised beds.

Sustainability
The Caballeros are extremely committed to the environmental sustainability of their farms. A lot of their energy and focus goes towards improving the soil of their farms to ensure a healthy growing environment for their coffee shrubs. Therefore, they produce organic fertilizer made from cow and chicken manure mixed with pulp from coffee cherries and other organic material. This is used in addition to some mineral fertilizer to ensure that the coffee plants get the nutrients they need.

Oranges, avocados, flowers, bananas and other fruits are also grown at the farms, but mainly for the pickers to eat and to create biodiversity at the farms that ensures good growing conditions and shade for the coffee trees.