Meet The True Artist Behind Your Cup. Finca Los Laureles History.

Hello, My name is Enrique villavicencio Arguello, Im 58 years old, I was born in Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, a Doctor by profetion with a specialty in Radiology, Married with my beautiful wife that God send me and father of two childrens,
In 1990 I moved form the capital to a town in the northem part of the country called Matagalpa a coffee Growing and agricultutal area.

I worked in my profession for 26 years and I always thought of doing my retreat in the fields, what I did not know is that I was going to arouse a fascination towards the cultivation of coffee. I knew absolutely nothing about this, but little by little I was learning about this area to which I have dedicated a large part of my life.

In 1998 I built my house on a plot of 7.5 hectares of which there was already half a hectare with coffee plants. There was no water and its land is muddy. I dreamed of seeing my house surrounded by these plants and that's where my first challenge began: how to spread this crop if the coffee needs water. That was why I developed a community project for Unicef, which was approved with funds from Sweden, which resulted in water for the entire community and my adventure with the coffee plantation. This coffee was grown as if it were a potted plant, which means that a hole had to be dug, the slum removed, filled with fertile soil and plenty of water.

This is how my history as a coffee grower begins and that is when I decide to buy 30 hectares in what is called FINCA LOS LAURES. I combined my time with working as a doctor and producer. I liked to wear my farmhouse outfit: hat, boots, blue jeans, and pocket knife. But I did not do this alone, my wife always by my side, coming from a traditional farm family, taught me about living with the peasants to give them a humane and fair treatment.
Little by little I learned how the plantation is done, from the seedbeds to its commercialization and with experience I learned to narrow my experience with the field and my medical profession.

At the beginning of 2017, I retired to the countryside to dedicate myself fully to running the farm and being immersed with nature, the farmers, and the coffee technicians. Which led me to the conclusion: the land and the environment had to be protected, although it will sacrifice productivity.

This led to protecting flora and fauna, reforestation, harvesting water with small springs, this being the greatest achievement to be able to harvest coffee.

Rainforest certification was obtained and we currently produce our own organic fertilizer from livestock fecal matter using artisan biodigesters where we separate gas to produce clean electrical energy and on the other hand it is used as fertilizer (biol) that we apply to the earth by direct spraying per plant.

With this type of fertilizer the quality of the soils is improved, there are savings in the purchase of chemicals and the quality of the grain is superior.

Parallel to this, the pollination of the coffee flower is developed with African bees, so that this flower, already pollinated in a natural way, improves the quality of the grain and the productivity of the plant.

Currently, the only drawback to being able to grow coffee and social work is the low prices on the stock market. However, there is something more valuable than the monetary aspect and it is the satisfaction of being able to maintain a very good relationship between the environment, collaborators and the producer.

Time goes on ...