Josue Recinos Ochoa

Josue Esau Recinos and his wife, Wendy Portillo, run and manage Finca Jason, named after their son. The beautiful farm is in San José Sacare in La Palma, Chalatenango, where he has cultivated coffee for nine years. Josue comes from a family of coffee growers, so coffee has been part of his life from an early age. He recalls that the first plots of land on the farm were planted with coffee trees by himself, something he is very proud of. His father was a great support on his coffee journey, as he inherited Josue the land, gave him his first coffee trees and showed him how to grow varieties such as Gesha and Pacamara.

In 2020, Josue decided to focus more on the speciality coffee market and sell his coffee at higher prices, as he knew the quality potential of the varieties, and this was also a way to further improve his income and his farm business. This change has paid off! Josue has improved his home and provided his family with a better quality of life.

Josue currently leads all the farm activities, but doesn’t own a micro-mill. Thus, all processing is carried out at his brother’s facility. Josue focuses on selective picking, and there has been a significant effort to train pickers to achieve this. After this, because of the distance and logistics, he lets the coffee rest in cherry for 1 or 2 days to gather enough cherries to move them to the micro-mill for pulping or processing. Over the years, he has mastered the times that work for his coffee. During this process, Josue and his team ensure the coffee does not over-ferment. After pulping, he transports the coffee back to his house to dry the coffee. 90% of the coffee he processes is honey. When doing washed coffees, he ferments the batches for 24 to 36 hours in clean black under shade. The drying process is carried out in raised beds for about 22 days or less, depending on the weather. To date,80% of the farm is planted with Catuai, 15% with Pacarama, and 5% with Gesha.