Owned by José Hernán Girón, we first heard about La Alondra through his son Alejandro, who was based in the UK. Alejandro was studying for his MSc at Manchester Business School and interviewed our Green Coffee Buyer, Roland, as part of his research into the coffee business. After a wide-ranging and genuinely fascinating interview, they got chatting and Alejandro mentioned that his interest in coffee came from his family being Honduran producers. Roland, naturally, asked to taste some.
The Girón family has been growing coffee for over a century. The original La Alondra estate was established in Lempira, Honduras, but in 1998, Don Hernán had to sell that farm. He purchased a new property in the Lepaterique subregion – land that had been planted with coffee since the 1970s – and gave it the same name to continue the family tradition. It's now run by his son Miguel, with his three brothers (including Alejandro) all taking an active interest in the farm.
Whilst we were excited to taste the coffees, we weren't sure we'd be able to get them to the UK even if we loved them. Then came a chance meeting with another Honduran producer, Benjamin Paz. Benjamin's family runs Beneficio San Vincente, a dry mill in Peña Blanca that has helped transform Honduras's specialty coffee scene. The Paz family has been instrumental in connecting small farmers with international buyers, providing agronomic support, and producing some exceptional coffees – including multiple Cup of Excellence winners. Benjamin was in London to learn more about the UK market, and when he came to see us, we really clicked with his approach.
This was just before Manchester Coffee Festival 2021. The following week, Roland met up with Alejandro in person – and discovered that San Vincente actually processes the coffee from La Alondra. The pieces had fallen perfectly into place.
With that connection, we were able to taste samples from La Alondra's new harvest (which we loved) and arrange for them to come to the UK alongside other San Vincente coffees. We brought things full circle at Manchester Coffee Festival that year, meeting Alejandro again – this time bringing him our very first roasts of his family's coffee to enjoy.
About the Farm
La Alondra sits in the municipality of Lepaterique, just 30 kilometres from the capital Tegucigalpa, in the mountains of Yerba Buena. It's an 80-hectare property, with around 30 hectares planted to coffee at 1,600–1,800 metres above sea level. The area gets plenty of rainfall (2,000–2,500mm annually) and temperatures range from a cool 10°C up to 22°C – perfect conditions for slow-ripening cherries.
Here's the thing: Lepaterique has traditionally been known for growing cold-weather vegetables, not coffee. La Alondra was something of a pioneer in the area, with the first neighbouring coffee farms only appearing around 2000. That relative isolation has made the partnership with San Vincente all the more valuable in connecting the family to specialty markets.
The farm surrounds the family home and sits in an area of frequent mist and cooler weather. It's heavily forested with native trees, including tall conifers on the higher slopes that look out across the valley. The abundant shade – combined with limited labour availability – means many of the coffee plants grow unusually tall. Even the Villa Sarchi, typically a compact dwarf varietal, reaches for the canopy here.
Around half the plants are about 30 years old, with the rest planted over the intervening years as part of a gradual renovation programme. The main varietals are Villa Sarchi (originally from Costa Rica) and Caturra (from Guatemala), with smaller plantings of Bourbon, Catuai and Maracaturra. Miguel has also planted fruit trees throughout the property – mango, guava, limes and plantains – and the farm remains one of the most important sources of employment for the surrounding village.
Coffee is processed at a small wet mill above the house before being dried and sent to San Vincente for dry milling and export.
- Country: Honduras
- Department: Francisco Morazán
- Municipality: Lepaterique
- Village: Piedra Rayada
- Producer: José Hernán Girón
- Farm: La Alondra
- Elevation: 1,700 m.a.s.l.
