La Bella Estate was founded in 1960 in an area of tropical climate, surrounded by forests, in the heart of La Sierra de las Minas, in the department of El Progreso. Today I had the pleasure of chatting with Teodoro Engelhardt about his estate, the current and next crop.
Talking with Teodoro, he told us that the 21-22 harvest was not good for them since they were affected by storms and a frost. This caused a reduction in production, but the expected production for the 22-23 harvest will be very good. The increase in prices has created more opportunities and it seems that there will be a greater production in the next harvest.
Talking with Teodoro about the current situation, he mentions that today high prices are being paid for almost any coffee and we have to remember that costs have also skyrocketed. There are a lot more logistics costs, inflation costs and higher fertilizer prices. With high prices, we must take advantage of raising awareness and realizing among producers and buyers that we must be more self-sustainable. Creating long lasting relationships between producers and buyers is key. He has a very positive mindset on the subject of the upcoming harvests.
On a different subject, we were able to talk about the factors that make the coffee from the La Bella farm unique. Teodoro mentions that the microclimate of the Sierra de las Minas means that there is a longer maturation of the fruit and a much longer harvest than in other regions. The soil also plays a very important role.
To finish our talk with Teodoro, we talked about the different processes that they are developing on their estate. He mentions that they are making natural coffees, washed coffees using prolonged fermentations, aerobic and anaerobic processes where they are obtaining a lot of sweetness. In Dinámica we are very happy to work with La Bella Estate and we are looking forward to the next harvest and all the different coffees and processes that Teodoro is working on.
By: Andres Ranero