Guatemala El Apiario

"I just wanted to own one coffee plant." That was the dream of Don Jorge Méndez when he was just nine years old, picking cherries on Finca El Limonar for 25 cents a day — barely enough to buy a few tortillas. He worked long days on steep slopes, doing one of the hardest jobs in coffee, holding onto a dream that
seemed impossible.

While picking coffee in Agua Dulce, he learned the value of coffee,
how to buy, sell, and recognize quality. Over time, he saved
enough to purchase his first lots: El Apiario (The Apiary) and El
Panal (The Honeycomb).

At that altitude, coffee wouldn’t grow at first, so Jorge planted corn
while experimenting with new varieties until he discovered how to
make coffee thrive. In 2022, after forty years of hard work and
perseverance, Jorge’s story came full circle when he purchased
Finca El Limonar — the very farm where he picked coffee as a
child. The land was abandoned, but he and his family restored it
lot by lot, rebuilding the soil and nurturing it back to life through
organic practices.

Today, Jorge works alongside his children, who now manage much
of the day-to-day across all three farms, caring for both the coffee
and the family’s eight apiaries. The bees not only sustain the
land but also produce the exquisite Coffee Blossom Honey we’re
proud to share.

We’ve partnered with Don Jorge Méndez for nearly twenty years.
What began as the dream of owning a single coffee plant has
become a legacy of resilience, family, and sweet, enduring growth.