Ivan Molano Ramirez

Coffee is as much a heritage as it is a livelihood for Iván and Lucenid Molano. Iváns’ father was a coffee producer and handed down all of his knowledge of coffee production to Iván. Iván began helping out on the farm at 13 years old, and for over 40 years he has exercised and implemented what he has learnt, carefully, helping him to achieve higher yields and better quality. Iván and Lucenid began producing specialty coffee on the 5 hectares of Finca Las Pulgas 15 years ago, and they attribute the high quality of their coffee, partly, to the 2070 masl altitude. This combined with hard work and some technical assistance from PECA, has proved to be the perfect recipe for great coffee.

The name, ‘Las Pulgas’ is unusual, meaning “the fleas”. The land was first purchased by Iván’s father and before being a farm it was a football pitch where children used to play, and it was known as ‘El Campo de Juego de las Pulgas’. With such a memorable name, known by the community, they decided to keep it.

Iván and Lucenid recognize the ability to produce specialty coffee as key to their economic stability and higher profitability. Their continued efforts for sustainability through implementing organic farming practices while producing high quality allows coffee from Las Pulgas to make its way to coffee roasters all around the world.