We Taste: 2002 Limited Edition Spidey-Berry Frosted Pop-Tart, Pomegranate, Rose
Origin: Honduras
Farm: El Paraíso
Farmer: Ovidio Gómez Hernández
Wife: Maria Dolores Baide
Roast Level: Medium Light
Process: Natural
Varietal: Catuai
Importer(s): Benjamin Paz, Bonaventure, San Vicente
History: Ovidio Gomez, a native of La Union Lempira, began in the coffee business through his father's ventures in coffee trading, cattle, and property dealings. At 19, he moved to Santa Barbara, met his wife, and returned to Lempira briefly. Due to limited job opportunities, they moved back to Santa Barbara to work on a plot inherited from her father.
In 1995, they discovered the inherited property had been sold. Ovidio worked as a day laborer on coffee farms, eventually earning his father-in-law's trust. Two years later, Ovidio bought his first property and was gifted another plot by his father-in-law. He began planting coffee, including Bourbon varieties, and expanded his farms over the years. He even bought back the property initially promised to his wife.
Today, Ovidio and his family work together on their coffee farms, striving to maintain high-quality production. Their coffee comes from Las Flores village in Santa Barbara Mountain, a region with a rich coffee cultivation history and a national park since 1987. Coffee farming, initially a secondary crop in the 1940s, became the main crop in the 1970s, making coffee the cornerstone of the local economy and culture.