Behind the Beans: Luis Duarte

My relationship with Cumpa is built on both business and friendship through specialty coffee. I have been working with Cumpa for a couple of harvests now, and we feel very fortunate to continue working together because it is a partnership in which both sides grow together. I got to know them through Christine, whom I have known for several years. We also share a friendship that has developed through coffee.

Through family heritage and tradition, my story with coffee began from birth. I am the fifth generation of coffee growers in my family. We inherited a passion for coffee and for working the land in a sustainable and responsible way.

I enjoy being able to connect directly with customers and understand their tastes and needs. I also appreciate that the effort producers put into their farms is recognized and valued, and that this hard work is reflected in the quality of the coffee in the cup.

I want to continue my family’s tradition, position Salvadoran coffee among the world’s finest, and help preserve our environment. I also hope to build more connections throughout the coffee value chain and create better conditions for producers as well as for all the workers involved on the farm and at the mill.

Specialty coffees are those that stand out from the rest because of their quality, exclusivity, and traceability. At the same time, they are the coffee lots that allow producers to achieve better prices, helping us improve conditions on our farms and provide better opportunities for our collaborators and workers.

About ten years ago, when I was just starting out in the world of specialty coffee and experimenting with my first differentiated processes, I decided to produce a natural coffee using the Maragogype variety. A fellow coffee producer shared his process with me step by step and explained exactly how to carry it out.

However, I made a mistake and ended up doing a double fermentation that was completely outside the intended process. I thought I had ruined the coffee, but when it came time to cup it, the surprise was incredible—it tasted amazing! Since then, we have continued using that process with that variety and with others as well.

Above all, I would like to change the perception that coffee farms are unsustainable monocultures. At least in our country, coffee is grown under significant forest cover that provides shade, and if we still have forests today, coffee farms are partly responsible for their preservation.

I would also like to challenge the old stereotype that coffee is synonymous with labor exploitation. The specialty coffee industry has helped transform that perception by promoting fair pricing and creating more equitable conditions throughout the coffee supply chain.

At the moment, I am eagerly awaiting the new coffee season. I am especially excited about coffee lots from a farm that we developed completely from scratch. The time has finally come to evaluate the quality of those new plantings, and I am very excited to see the results.