We’re delighted to share this coffee from Jesus Galeas in the Montecillos region of Honduras, marking our first year of partnership through Semilla. Grown in the highlands of La Paz, this lot reflects the transformation of generational smallholders embracing specialty coffee—part of a broader movement rewriting the future of Honduran coffee, one harvest at a time.
More about Jesus ‘Chungo’ Galeas
Jesus Galeas has been a driving force in shifting his community toward specialty microlot production, thanks largely to his seven years with IHCAFE, where he guided producers on soil management, harvesting, and processing. His mission was always to motivate growers to adopt specialty practices and invest in their farms. This work eventually connected him with Rony Gamez of Café Raga, leading to technical support for Selguapa producers. What began with just two interested farmers quickly grew into the 30‑member Los Ramirez group within a year.
Jesus farms in Selguapa at La Falda and also manages La Valeria in Intibucá—his first inheritance, which he began expanding at age 17. Through loans and hard work, he grew it from one manzana to five hectares, planting varieties like Pacamara, Catuai, Paraneima, Bourbon, and IH‑90.
Honduras
Despite its status as the 4th largest exporter of coffee in the world, Honduras tends to fly under the radar in terms of specialty. From our perspective, however, the opportunities to write new realities via coffee are perhaps nowhere larger in the Americas than this tiny country. Our work here has been focused on a series of smallholder grower communities around the Montecillos mountain range, straddling the border of La Paz and Comayagua departments. Here, we’ve worked alongside generational smallholders as they’ve transitioned into specialty processing after decades of selling their coffee in cherry to the local market. The results have been remarkable.
History Doesn’t Happen, It Is Made
The story of Semilla’s work in Honduras begins with Antonio Ramirez. Born in Selguapa in 1950, he is the literal father of coffee in this region. At the time of his birth, Selguapa (1800 metres above sea level) was nothing more than a few casitas lodged in the steep, verdant ledges of the mountains of Comayagua. The principal economy for the majority of the late 20th century was beans and corn, and the population was incredibly isolated, having to venture on foot or muleback to the nearest cities of La Paz or Comayagua. 30 years ago, Antonio became one of the very first to commercially grow coffee in the area when he took over some abandoned land. There, sprinkled throughout the hills, were coffee plants – Pacas, Typica, and Bourbon. Finding the Pacas struggling in the frigid nights, he removed this variety and dedicated himself to the Typica and Bourbon. Like many Typica plants in Central and South America, the origin of these seeds is unknown, but they retain a deeply unique character: bright, clean and fruited, reminiscent of African coffees more so than the common perception of Central American coffees.
