Las Lajas

Since taking over the management of Aquiares Estate in 1992, Don Alfonzo Robelo has led the farm with a strong focus on sustainability and community development. Aquiares Estate is one of Costa Rica’s largest and best-known coffee farms, with coffee production dating back to 1890. The estate sits at elevations of around 1,100–1,400 masl. Don Alfonzo works closely with World Coffee Research and ICAFE, Costa Rica’s Coffee Institute, to trial new coffee varieties and innovative farming techniques. His commitment to the local community extends beyond coffee, with the estate supporting youth programmes, healthcare initiatives and local schools. Through its Home Ownership programme, Aquiares has also helped workers purchase their own homes.

This lot comes from Finca Majahual, run by Patrick Murray, 4th Generation coffee farmer, and located in the Los Naranjos Valley along the Apaneca-Ilamatepec mountain range in the municipality of Apaneca, western El Salvador. The farm covers 90 hectares with coffee trees interspersed amongst the surrounding forest, benefiting from the shade of canopies that help regulate temperature, protect soil, conserve moisture and provide a natural habitat for birds and other wildlife. Coffee production also benefits from its elevation and the rich volcanic soil of the valley. Alongside coffee production Finca Majahual sponsors the La Cumbre Elementary located on site, providing schooling for local children. Alongside this community work, Finca Majahual also runs a nutritional programme and health clinic for the local community.

This lot comes from the Arsosala Washing Station, located at 1,800 masl in the Uraga woreda of Guji, Ethiopia. Founded in 2015, Arsosala now serves 1,200 smallholder producers, who cultivate coffee on small plots alongside other crops and deliver their cherries to the station. The station pays partner farmers a 5–10% premium, encouraging a focus on quality rather than volume. This is a special prep lot, only cherries picked at perfect ripeness are selectived from the day lot and processed seperately. The result is a small volume, curated lot of the best quality from Arsosala.

Mustefa Abakeno is a smallholder farmer from Jimma in western Ethiopia. His farm has now grown to 18 hectares and is located at 2,040 masl. Mustefa invested in processing equipment early on and established the Beshasha wet mill, enabling him to process and export his own lots and engage directly with buyers. The wet mill also processes coffee from neighbouring smallholders who partner with Beshasha. Mustefa’s relationship with Falcon began in 2021, when Falcon’s agronomy team began investing in the support and training of the neighbouring smallholders Mustefa works with. This included installing shade netting to protect coffee at the hottest parts of the day, as well as increased monitoring to ensure uniform moisture levels during drying. Mustefa also maintains a small field laboratory equipped with a high-specification moisture reader. This allows Mustefa and the Falcon team to take precise measurements of each lot coming through the washing station, enabling individual lots to be critically assessed and categorised according to quality. In 2022, Mustefa invested in four additional purchasing sites, allowing him to extend his outreach to neighbouring smallholders. Coffee from these partner farmers is brought to either Beshasha or its sister wet mill, Kabira, for processing. Through this growing network, Mustefa and the Falcon team are able to continue investing in the local coffee-growing communities, helping to improve both coffee quality and productivity while creating greater opportunities for smallholder farmers.