Luha and Issel Medina come from a family of coffee producers that have been working hard for three generations to bring positive change to both the culture and commercial aspects of Honduras’ coffee industry. They are shifting coffee’s cultural landscape in Santiago de Puringla, La Paz, an area where the coffee industry has traditionally been, and continues to be, male-dominated.

Currently they own two farms of their own, both of which are certified Organic: Finca El Pino & Finca El Pino 2. This coffee was grown on the 12 acre Finca El Pino 2, which was founded in 2019 with the goal of pursuing higher quality and more sustainable practices. The sisters don't use any herbicides or pesticides on their farm and follow organic practices, integrating the compost they produce at their mill back into the farms.

This coffee, which goes by the name El Ocotillo, comes from El Pino 2, which used to be a barren lot of land used for keeping cattle before Luha and Issel took over. Today, it's a lush coffee forest with over 75% shade density, and seven acres of forest towering up above the coffee trees. The forest they planted includes native species like Liquidambar and Encionos, which is the namesake for their mill. There are also fruit trees for shade like banana and peach trees.

PROCESSING
Their coffees are processed at the cooperative mill that they created, Beneficio Los Encinos, established in 2019. It currently has 10 families as members, and Luha & Issel are hoping to continue to grow this specialty coffee cooperative in the coming years. They really like to employ natural processing, saying, "We’re really excited about our natural process because we’ve seen how it boosts the qualities of our coffees!” The mill is overseen by the Los Encinos Quality Manager, Ana Esly Galeano (pictured right). Luha & Issel helped Ana graduate through cupping school and count on her help to monitor quality of the different lots at the wet mill. The mill also has a water decontamination systems using oxidation ponds, to repurpose and mitigate contamination that can occur from coffee processing.

This coffee was naturally processed, fermenting for 3 days in open-air tanks at temperatures ranging from 15-23°C (59°-73°F). Next, the coffees were meticulously dried in patios under partial shade at temperatures of 23-27°C (73° to 80°F) for 30 days until reaching a humidity level of 10.3% and water activity of 0.54. All of the coffee at the mill is sorted and hand-selected by women.