Mayan Buzz Coffee Mayan Mojo

Honduran Coffee

Honduras is considered the top coffee producer in Central America as of 2011. In past years, Honduran coffee growers smuggled their beans into Guatemala, where they would go for a higher selling price, based on the already set selling reputation Guatemala had. The transportation of coffee from one place to another is not considered illegal, since coffee is not a prohibited item. After government tax on coffee exports started to play a role in the coffee business, they boosted production and dramatically improved their coffee quality. Since then, demand has increased and smuggling coffee across the border has become unnecessary.

Honduran Blend coffee is grown by a group of farmers under the name, "Cafe Organico Marcala S.A. or COMSA. It originated from a group of organized producers in the Savings and Credit Rural Box of 2000, interested in selling their coffee to differentiated markets and at better prices. With the support of FUNDER it was founded on December 13th, 2001 as a Variable Stock Corporation. It is formed by 316 partners. COMSA produces around 26,145 quintals of exportable green coffee. Currently the company exports coffee with the Fair Trade Seal, Bio-Latin Organic and Denomination of Origin Marcala (DOP), there are advances for the certification of 50 producers for the UTZ seal.

Colombian Coffee

The first coffee crops were planted in the eastern part of Colombia, and the first commercial production occurred in 1835 with 2,560 green coffee bags. A priest named Francisco Romero was a very influential figure to the spread of the coffee crop in Northeast Colombia. The cultivation of coffee was even required as penance by Father Romero. Colombian coffee became an export in the second half of the 19th century, and the United States, Germany, and France became consumers of Colombian coffee. At the turn of the 20th century, international prices dropped, and so did profits of large coffee estates in Colombia. In the beginning of the 20th century, several small coffee producers adopted a new model of coffee exports, based on rural economy and supported by internal migration and colonization of new territories. The western regions of Colombia took the lead in the development of the Colombian coffee industry. Between 1905 and 1935, the Colombian coffee industry grew significantly due to the politics of the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia (FNC) in 1927. The Federation created a union of local farmers and small producers, and confronted logistical and commercial difficulties. Cultivation systems improved, and spatial patterns permitted differentiation of the product, and supported its quality. Today, Colombia has 38 cooperatives independent of the FNC, and of those, nineteen are certified fair trade. The majority of Colombian coffee is shade grown with 1.4 million hectares (10,000 square meters) under canopy, and only 717,000 hectares grown in full sun.