Rina Paguaga — Stories from origin: Nicaragua

All Barista Camp 'coffeetalks' - by speakers such as Scott Rao, Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood and Rina Paguaga - were recorded by our media partner European Coffee Trip. We'll be releasing the videos of these talks over the next months so we keep fuelling discussion and building an inventory of knowledge. Don't hesitate to add your comments here, or on our Youtube channel.

The second speaker took Camp attendees on a journey to Nicaragua, where Rina Paguaga was born and grew up with her family. As a young child she ran around the coffee fields helping her family, but her childhood in Nicaragua came to an abrupt end during the Civil War that ravaged the country. The Paguaga family left the country in search of safety and found a new home in Honduras where they started from scratch building a new coffee farm.  Rina eventually moved to the United States where she went on to study international business. In 2011 she launched Café Vidita as an international extension of her family’s award-winning coffee farms.  The Paguaga family’s passion for coffee and focus on sustainability have been at the core of their establishing direct-trade relationships with roasters around the world.

Rina shared a very personal account on her family's history and coffee farm, in good and bad times, with hope and optimism as well as concern for the future generations: her younger brothers and nephews. Rina's talk brought the 'far-away' coffee farmer and the challenges he faces a lot closer to the baristas, and she encouraged us all to find out the stories of each farmer behind the coffees we serve, and together with them, to discover the best way to reward everyone - from farmer to barista - for the hard work we do and the passion we share. A truly heartwarming and motivational talk not to be missed!