Real People. Real Impact.
PERU
Rosa
Rosa Lloclla has been growing coffee for most of her life in Bajo Ihuamaca, near San Ignacio in Peru’s Cajamarca region. She began producing coffee at a young age and today farms 8.65 acres at an elevation of more than 5,000 feet. Widowed and raising three sons, Rosa has faced many of the challenges common to small-scale coffee farmers, including low coffee prices, unpredictable weather and a shortage of labor.
What keeps Rosa moving forward is her determination to create greater opportunities for her family. She and her son Nolberto continue working to improve their farm while navigating the challenges facing their community, including extreme poverty and limited access to healthcare. Rosa is especially passionate about women’s rights and her children’s education. What makes her most proud are her sons and their belief that they can overcome their circumstances and pursue opportunities she did not have herself.
HONDURAS
Fredy
Fredy Rapalo is a third-generation coffee farmer in the Santa Barbara region of western Honduras, where his passion for producing exceptional coffee can be seen throughout his farm. He takes a meticulous approach to growing and processing, from maintaining old-growth shade trees to carefully pruning and fertilizing his coffee plants. Instead of relying on commercial fertilizers, Fredy combines chicken manure with coffee hulls from processing to create an organic fertilizer that returns nutrients to the soil.
Fredy’s commitment extends well beyond his own crop. A former mayor of San Luis and longtime entrepreneur, he has created businesses and jobs throughout his community. During harvest, his coffee farm employs as many as 150 to 200 workers, whom he pays above the typical local rate and provides with meals. He also operates a coffee-processing facility that smaller farmers can use to prepare their own beans. For Fredy, producing quality coffee goes hand in hand with caring for the land and creating opportunity for the people around him.
UGANDA
Wadamba & Nafuna Oliver
Wadamba and Nafuna Oliver have been growing coffee on their four-acre farm high on Mt. Elgon in Uganda since 1988. Childhood sweethearts who married young, they experienced the devastating loss of their first child early in their marriage. That experience helped shape their concern for young people in their community, where they saw girls marrying and having children before having the opportunity to complete their education.
When the nearest school proved too distant and the journey there unsafe, Wadamba and Nafuna decided to do something extraordinary: they opened a school on their own coffee farm. Today, approximately 250 students attend each day. Coffee provides the income that supports both their family and the school, and the strong up-front price they receive for coffee grown for LWR Farmers Market Coffee has helped them care for their trees and continue producing quality coffee despite challenges such as coffee tree disease. For Wadamba and Nafuna, coffee is more than a crop. It helps create opportunities for the next generation. As Wadamba puts it, “Education is light.”
Our Growing Regions
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PERU
High in the Peruvian Andes, cool mountain air, rich volcanic soil, and slow-growing elevations help create coffees with remarkable balance and clarity. The region’s combination of warm days and cool nights allows coffee cherries to mature gradually, developing bright acidity, smooth body, and layered notes of chocolate, citrus, caramel, and stone fruit.
Many of Peru’s coffees are grown on small family farms using traditional methods passed down through generations. Careful harvesting, hand-sorting, and cooperative partnerships help preserve both quality and sustainability, producing coffees known for their clean flavor, sweetness, and approachable character.
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HONDURAS
Coffee from Honduras is known for its smooth, balanced flavor and remarkable sweetness. Grown high in the mountain regions where cool nights and warm days slow the ripening process, Honduran coffees develop rich notes of caramel, citrus, honey, and milk chocolate with a clean, mellow finish that makes every cup enjoyable.
Many of the country’s coffee farms are small family operations passed down through generations, where careful hand-picking and traditional growing methods remain part of daily life. The combination of fertile mountain soil, high elevations, and deep farming knowledge produces coffees that are approachable, comforting, and full of natural complexity.
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UGANDA
Uganda’s rich volcanic soil, high elevations, and tropical climate create ideal conditions for growing bold, flavorful coffee with deep character. The slow ripening of the beans in the mountain regions helps develop complex notes of dark chocolate, ripe fruit, and warm spice, balanced by a smooth body and vibrant aroma.Many Ugandan coffee farms are family-run and carefully tended by hand, with generations of knowledge passed down through local farming communities. The result is a coffee that feels both grounded and lively, full-bodied, naturally sweet, and deeply connected to the people and landscapes where it’s grown.
(Photo: Brad LaBriola for Lutheran World Relief)
