Nadeia Guerra Suarez

Remember Rosie the Riveter? Well, this is the Rosie of coffee growing. Meet Nadeia, who inherited her farm from her Grandfather, who gave it to her Uncle who then passed it down to her mother, who then gave it to her. With the coffee gene going back generations, Nadeia took the land that was handed down generations and decided to up the level a bit.

Her dedication to the land and the coffee that it grows in evident in every cup. When we received a sample of her crop, it blew us all away. Nadeia is the perfect example of how women “can do it” and maybe do it even a little better….

Finca Hortigal sits between 1,400–1,600 meters above sea level, in the highlands of the Boquete region. They maintain strict farming and maintenance guidelines each season, in order to guarantee consistency and an optimized production.

Nadeia was taught how to farm by her Uncle Norberto and his father (her grandfather). She felt a draw to working with the land and both her and her sister inherited the green thumb that runs through their family.

After taking over Jaramillo Estate and Finca Hortigal, she quickly got to work to make some changes. Now, she has two successful farms and has built permanent dwellings on each to house the migrant workers during harvest. She put in plumbing and established a sharecropping system to make sure that each and every single one of her workers had liveable conditions and wages. 

Nadeia has big dreams for her coffee farms, wanting to build a gift shop and begin offering eco tours of the farms. She want to add additional sources of revenue to continue to improve her farm for both the coffee and her workers. 

Nadeia is truly inspiring and is an excellent example of a newer coffee farmer generation coming in and "shaking things up" a bit for the better. 

We know we'll be back soon, and can't wait to climb the steep slopes of Finca Hortigal again.