Our Story

FOUNDED IN ECOLOGY

The Mount Totumas Cloud Forest Coffee story begins in 2008, when a love of nature and a dedication to ecological conservation inspired two brothers to purchase 140 hectares of land bordering La Amistad—Central America’s largest highland national park—to establish an eco-resort and private nature reserve. As we grew and learned more about the region, some friends from a nearby coffee finca helped us discover that we were in an ideal location for growing premium high-elevation coffees.

Thus, a new project was born.

LEARNING STEP BY STEP

We planted our first 500 coffee trees in 2014 in an overgrown area formerly used as a pasture for cattle. It took a few shaky years to figure out what we were doing, but when we were finally able to taste the results of our first harvest we knew we were onto something.

Today, our farm consists of over 10,000 trees (and counting!) planted at elevations between 1800 and 1900 meters, all shade grown in areas reforested with native trees. Incorporating a diverse variety of other fruiting, flowering, and nitrogen-fixing trees among our coffee fields provides a welcoming habitat for birds and other wildlife, which in turn help keep our trees happy and healthy by providing ample fertilizer and pollination during flowering. We also benefit from the natural ecosystem of the cloud forest surrounding each of our lots, which help to regulate the climate and prevent erosion.

This holistic, ecologically-oriented approach is the underlying philosophy behind every aspect of our operation—from seed to tree, and from bean to cup.