Meet Our Family

Velasquez Family Coffee is grown by several members of our family in Honduras. We are currently getting coffee from four different farmers: Guillermo's father Maximo, his brother Abilio, his brother Sabel, and his brother-law-Alonzo. (You'll recognize some of their names in the names of our coffee roasts.)

Maximo's French Roast, our darkest coffee, is named after Guillermo's father, Maximo Velasquez. Maximo has been growing coffee for over 40 years in the mountains outside of Comayagua Honduras. He first learned to grow coffee from his father-in-law Coronado Rodriguez. Now in his early 80's Maximo is slowing down a bit, but he can still swing a machete with the best of them. He loves milking his three cows each morning and taking the milk to Guillermo's mother Natalia who makes cheese or mantequilla (like sour cream) from it. Maximo and Natalia are well recognized leaders in the rural Rio Negro community where they live. Both are great conversationalists and love to meet new people. Over the years they have contributed a lot to the community, donating land for the community church, elementary school, and soccer field.

Abilio Velasquez, Guillermo's older brother, is a farmer, ecologist and father of 3 young children (2 boys and a girl). He and his wife Bertilia grow coffee just up the road from Maximo and Natalia. Abilio is a passionate advocate for organic farming. He is responsible for encouraging many coffee farmers in the community to switch to organic methods. He worked for several years as a park ranger for the national forest agency of Honduras. He also worked for many years with Conservation Corp, leading groups of Honduran youth on conservation camps. In addition to learning about the cloud forest ecosystem of the farm, these young campers have built hiking trails, planted trees, learned about organic coffee farming, and completed other conversation projects in the community. Bertilia is one of two teachers in the small community elementary school. Through Abilio and Bertilia's leadership, children in the community learn from an early age the importance of protecting the forest. Visitors to the farm can stay in the small eco-casita (cabin) that they have built and learn about the many varieties of plants and animals in the area through a guided tour on the hiking trails.

Sabel Maximiliano Velasquez, Guillermo's oldest brother, is also a coffee farmer as a well as the director of the Comayagua branch of the Coffee Producers Association (AGROCAFE). He grows coffee both in Rio Negro and in another community outside of Talanga that is know for its high quality coffee because of its high altitude. He and his wife Daysi have three daughters and live in the city of Comayagua where Daysi is an elementary school teacher. Sabel has been a consistent advocate for the Rio Negro community and other neighboring rural communities, often finding funding for road, bridge and water projects. He has also been a leader in a fledgling cooperative of about 30 coffee farmers being formed in the area that has made it possible for farmers (including the Velasquez family) to be certified organic and which is beginning to seek out new marketing options.

Alma's Full City Roast, our medium coffee, is named after Guillermo's sister, Alma Sagrario Velasquez, who is a economics professor at the University of Comayagua. Her husband Alonzo Contreras grows excellent organic coffee at his farm near Las Crucitas, a mountain community about 30 minutes from Rio Negro. At the moment he also works 1 day a week as the manager of a coffee farm owned by some Dutch investors, but he is excited that the income he receives through the sales of Velasquez Family Coffee in the United States may soon make it possible for him to leave his "off-farm" job to focus entirely on his own farm. Alma and Alonzo and their daughter live in Comayagua.

Memo's Breakfast Blend is named after Guillermo himself. (Memo is a common nickname for Guillermo). In addition to selling his family's coffee here in St. Paul, Guillermo works at the University of Minnesota in the Department of Agronomy doing research on barley. Guillermo is the youngest of Maximo and Natalia's 8 children. Growing up in Honduras, he used to work on the coffee farm, picking coffee, planting new coffee plants, and cutting weeds with a machete. Before the road to the farm was built, Memo and his brothers would take the coffee to town to sell by leading up to 15 mules loaded with coffee bags down narrow mountain paths, sometimes in heavy rain. Cathy Velasquez Eberhart, Guillermo's wife and partner in selling coffee, works part time for a sustainable agriculture organization called Land Stewardship Project, whose work with local farmers helped inspire Velasquez Family Coffee.