What is Estate Coffee?

Estate coffee is coffee grown, harvested, roasted and packaged all from a single plantation or “estate.” Estate coffee is never blended with coffee beans from other farms; it is a pure reflection of one estate’s production.

Though there are variables, the difference between an estate coffee and a non-estate coffee can basically be compared to a chardonnay versus a “white table wine.” The former is made by producing wine from one type of grape from one estate or winery; the latter is made from an assortment of white wine grapes gathered from various wineries. While there are exceptions, there is usually a difference in quality.

Our misty climate nurtures great coffee.

Like estate wines, estate coffee succeeds or fails on its own. In its flavor, estate coffee reflects a particular region’s unique combination of climate, soil, and altitude. Like fine wines, estate coffee carries with it the imprint of its natural environment as well as the experienced dedication of coffee growers who nurture the beans year after year.

Café Miramundo is produced exclusively on our mountaintop farm above the Copán Valley. We are very proud of our farm, the men and women who contribute to its success, and the rich coffee that it produces. It is an estate coffee that confidently stands alone for you to enjoy.

Beans drying under the Honduran sun.

Why Buy an Estate Coffee?

Because an estate coffee is coffee from only one plantation - a single, controlled source - it is able to deliver a more consistent level of excellence to the buyer.

Like a winery that grows one type of grape for one type of wine, we grow only 100% Arabica beans, hand-nurtured to our exacting standards.

Estate coffees vary as much as the regions that produce them, and they are accountable to the buyer in ways that beans mixed together from many farms can never be. Our coffee is delivered directly from the Copán Valley in western Honduras to you. It doesn’t journey through a gauntlet of buyers, exporters, importers, storage facilities (local or abroad), and is never mixed with other coffees prior to roasting. Is 100% Honduran, high-elevation Arabica from our farm. E-mail us, call us, or come visit us to taste our coffee or express your views.

Manager Saúl Alvarez has over 20 years experience in coffee operations in the Copán region.

Buy Direct, Pay Direct
In addition to getting a more consistent level of excellence in your coffee, by purchasing an estate coffee you are also returning a maximum purchase price to the people who labor year round to grow and process the beans.

The world of Latin American coffee has been dealt a severe blow in the last 4-5 years; the producers’ share of the actual sale price has fallen from 30-35% to less than 10%. Over 90% is presently distributed among numerous middlemen: the local buyers and exporters, the foreign roasters and ultimately, the distributors and coffee shops.

Young plants in the nursery.

A farmer’s return is now below the cost of production in many Central American coffee regions. This results in the abandonment of many farms or a crop replacement that requires cutting coffee’s protective forest canopy. Unless the situation is addressed by the industrialized sector of the coffee industry, the availability and quality of fine Latin American estate coffees will surely decline drastically.

Choose Quality
By purchasing an estate coffee you become a direct contributor to the continuity of Central American coffee growing traditions. A realistic monetary return to the coffee farm from direct sales ensures a future not only for a fine, quality controlled coffee but for the workers whose lives are so entwined in its production and whose economic alternatives are extremely limited.

About Us > Estate Coffee · History · Future Plans · Order Coffee