A Day with Jhonnathan Camacho to learn about our coffee from Finca Desamparados

About two years ago Eden (my daughter) and I went to Costa Rica for a split coffee sourcing and father-daughter spring break trip. Every time I travel to origin, I feel like it is a life-changing experience and this trip was yet another example of that. About 25 years ago, when I was in my early days at Intel, I took my first trip to Costa Rica. I was blown away by the coffee, but back then I had no idea how much better it could get. I was also impressed with the scenery and fell in love with the people during my first visit. I traveled there about five times over a five-year period and had some of the best business trips of my life in that country. However, those trips stopped when I left Intel about 20 years ago. I missed Costa Rica and had yet to travel there for coffee. So, as I was planning my trips to origin for 2023, I made sure Costa Rica was at the top of my list.

One of my goals for the trip was to build a new coffee relationship with a producer that was working hard to elevate the coffee trade in the area around his farm.  This was easily accomplished when we met up with Jhonnathan Comacho.  I had bought coffee from him in the past, but it was all pre-Covid and in the aftermath of the pandemic, our relationship with him had fallen off and I was excited to finally meet him face-to-face and tour his farms. Jhonnathan is a local doctor who is now pursuing his dream of becoming a full-time coffee producer.  We met up with one of our export partners, Oxcart Coffee, and then drove off to find Jhonnathan.

Our first stop was the Aguilera Brother Micromill. One of the twelve brothers toured us through the mill and taught us about the unique Costa Rican wet and dry mill processes. This information came from an esteemed fifth-generation coffee-producing family and felt like a master class in coffee production. What an unexpected treat to see their hard work and passion firsthand. Jhonnathan had already spent the morning at the mill working on his lots and was tired from all his hard work. We met up with him later for lunch at Restaurant El Mirador and were awestruck by the views. After lunch, we started an off-road trek through each of his seven small farms. Jhonnathan’s introduction to coffee is very different than many producers. He was not raised in coffee, but was best friends with one of the Aguilera brothers and fell in love with coffee a little later in life. He and I have a lot in common in that sense.

After he started his first career he realized it was not his passion, so nearly ten years ago he started working towards buying and setting up farms. He spends his days in a public hospital, many times handing off coffee samples during breaks, and spent nights & weekends working on his coffee business. He thinks he’s about five years away from being able to completely financially support himself through his coffee business. We were lucky enough to see his enthusiasm for the industry on full display that afternoon. He’s excited to be able to build a home, a wet and dry mill, and several coffee-producing farms all over the West Valley of Costa Rica. We were blessed to see each one.

As we drove through an empty field, he pointed out the place he wants to build his home, right next to his mill. We drove through a shared farm that is not producing high enough quality coffee to sell as a specialty, and he talked about how once he gets his mill, he’ll be able to work with those producers to elevate their coffee and eventually double or triple their annual income. I couldn’t help but feel an instant camaraderie with Jhonnathan, as someone who started his career on another path but used the resources of that initial career to build a dream job and business. Jhonnathan is doing this the right way and putting together an operation that will help so many in his area. He has the perfect mentors in his close friends, the Aguilera brothers. I’m so glad we spent that day with him and am grateful to bring back his coffees with our coffee from Finca Desamparados as this dream becomes a reality.