La Labor, Marcala, and San Pedro Sula - Updates from Honduras

La Labor, Marcala, and San Pedro Sula: Reforesting Update from Honduras

Last month, a few of us from Tiny Footprint Coffee, Tiny Carbon and Cima Cafe packed our bags and headed back to Honduras—the heart of so much of our coffee and reforestation work. Five days of dirt roads, strong coffee, stronger handshakes, and the kind of conversations that remind you why we do this in the first place.

We laughed, we planted trees, we cupped experimental decafs, and we left with a longer to-do list than when we arrived (always a good sign). Here’s the play-by-play.

La Labor, Ocotepeque

Day 1: Border crossings and coffee cherry wine

We flew into San Salvador, linked up with our Tiny Carbon and Cima Café crews, and crossed into Honduras ready to work.

First stop: Don Orlando Arita’s farm outside La Labor. The place is basically a private nature reserve—birds everywhere, shade trees – a good number he planted, and coffee looking happier than ever. Orlando fed us lunch and broke out his homemade coffee-cherry wine (yes, it’s as good as it sounds). We keep telling him to open an eco-lodge, so the tourists can pick his coffee (a fair deal for everyone); he keeps laughing and pouring another round.

Next up: Selin Recinos at Finca La Guadalupe. Selin’s been growing coffee for us and planting trees with us for eight years. We walked his farm, talked 2025 lots, and brainstormed how to finally get our La Labor community tree nursery up and running. The winning idea? Start with fruit trees and income-producing species to get everyone excited, then layer in the native hardwoods once trust is flowing.

Day 2: Impromptu barista class and a rainy drive

Breakfast turned into a pop-up latte art training when Norma, the owner of the café where we were eating, started asking questions. Ten minutes later we had had her creating micro-foam and pouring her first patterns.

Then we started the long drive to Marcala including a stop to hang out with the always engaging Arnold Paz, this time his story is how he is not selling his coffee (but he really is), to see if he’s interested in consulting on a coffee start-up in Liberia (another tale for another day), then proceeded in the dark, in the rain, Honduran-style to Marcala, where the real tree-party was about to begin.

Friday, October 17 – Marcala

Day 3: If you grow them, they WILL come

After three years of planning, pitching, and occasional head-scratching, one hypothesis finally proved true: grow the trees and the partners will come.

Jorge and Jorge Jr. Molina had 2,700+ saplings, of the 10,000 we contracted with them to grow, bagged and ready in their nursery . Word got out that we were giving them away to anyone willing to plant and track them—and suddenly Water Boards, farmers, and community groups were lining up.

We spent the morning loading pickup trucks with trees headed for watershed protection projects spearheaded by ASOMAINCUPACO (Association for the Integrated Management of Watersheds of La Paz and Comayagua). Later we charged up steep mountain roads to deliver saplings to Pedro Turcios for shade on his farm, then planted more shade saplings with Fabio Caballero and Carlos Amaya on Fabio’s new land. Watching those trees go in the ground felt like the official kickoff of the next chapter.

That night 30–40 farmers, Water Board members, and friends filled a local restaurant. Plates piled high, stories flying, plans scribbled on napkins. Perfect.

Day 4, Marcala: From land-reform legends to a leaking reservoir

We visited new to us in 2025 coffee producer Cabripel, a cooperative born decades ago when farm workers said “enough” and claimed their land. They’re now laser-focused on quality and improving members incomes. We ate lunch, hiked their farms, and then up to the community reservoir… and saw the cracks. Water leaking, capacity dropping, and everyone downstream feeling it. We’re already talking fundraising ideas to help fix it—more on that soon.

We then planted a ceremonial round of mahogany, caoba, trees to launch the reforestation pillar of our partnership. 

We ended the evening with a community dinner in Marcala, joined by 30–40 local farmers, partners, and community members. It was a night filled with conversation, connection, and building new relationships to increase our reach across Honduras. 

Municipalidad de Planes de Santa Maria & San Pedro Sula

Day 5: Nurseries & decaf dreams

Morning stop: Just launched tree nursery, located in Municipalidad de Planes de Santa Maria, in partnership with MAMCEPAZ (Association of Municipalities of Central La Paz), facilitated by our friends Luha & Issel of Finca Los Encinos —long-time partners who keep proving that great coffee and great tree projects can grow side by side.  The pictured saplings will be ready for planting when the rains come in 2026. 

Then on to San Pedro Sula to visit Romand, who’s quietly building Honduras’ first in-country decaffeination facility. Cupping those experimental lots was nerd-heaven. Local decaf processed by Hondurans, keeping more money in the country.

Day 6: Goodbyes and Back Home

Monday morning, after saying our goodbyes, we flew home tired, happy, and already plotting the next trip.

None of this happens without the farmers, Water Boards, nursery teams, and co-ops who welcome us like family every time. And none of it happens without you—every bag you buy plants more trees, funds more nurseries, and keeps these relationships growing.

Thank you for drinking coffee that does something bigger.

More photos and updates coming soon. In the meantime, if you want to help fix that reservoir or just want to taste the coffees from these farms, hit reply—we’ll keep you posted.

– The Tiny Footprint Team (Back in Minnesota, still smiling about coffee-cherry wine) 🌱☕