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( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( OFF the WIRE ) ) NEWS BR IE FS NEW DOCUMENTARY SHINES SPOTLIGHT ON HONDURAN COFFEE FARMING, BUYING Mayra Orellana was born in the remote Honduran mountain village of Santa Elena. While her family always grew coffee, their farm was very small, and the returns on their harvests were rarely adequate. After accepting a scholarship to a U.S. university, Orellana would still return from her trips back to Honduras with beans from the family farm stashed in her suitcase. It was that connection—between coffee and home—that eventually gave her the inspiration to do something for the struggling farmers in her village, as well as the courage to begin shipping coffee back on a much larger scale. "The Way Back to Yarasquin" is a new documentary by filmmaker Sarah Gerber chronicling Orellana's efforts to bring coffee from her hometown to the American market, ensuring a fair return for the smallholder farmers of Santa Elena. It's a visual portrait of a return to one's roots, and a story of how direct trade is changing lives for small-scale growers. Today Orellana runs Catracha Coffee Company, a sustainable green buyer and roaster in Alameda, Calif., that imports coffee from 33 coffee producers in Santa Elena. She was also recently hired as the marketing and outreach director for importing company Royal Coffee, where she facilitates communication between coffee producers and roasters around the world. What began as a desire to help her family get more from each harvest is now a full-time job )) ))) ) helping smallholder coffee growers around the world receive a direct return for their hard work. The question of how Orellana went from small-time coffee buyer to dedicated industry member is answered eloquently in Gerber's movie, which premiered in August. Gerber and her camera tag along with Orellana on her yearly "coffee pilgrimage" back to Santa Elena, learning along the way about the history of the region, the uncertainties that small Honduran coffee farms face, and about Orellana's commitment to her community and the industry at large. "I'm really interested in people from small communities who have left their communities but are still so committed to passing on the advantages they have," says Gerber. "I'm just really intrigued by that dynamic. People like Mayra know their community, they know how to build them up and improve their quality of life because they lived it." Gerber says Orellana's defining characteristic is her determination to succeed. When she first decided to find a U.S. buyer for Santa Elena's coffee, Orellana essentially went door to door, telling her story to coffee professionals around the Bay Area. She eventually caught the attention of Alex Roberts, founder and roaster at Oakland, Calif.-based Roast Co. Roberts was intrigued by Orellana's determination to improve the livelihoods of Honduran farmers, and he eventually began buying and roasting beans from Santa Elena. With help from Roberts and other local roasters, the word began to spread that high-quality Honduran coffee was available through Orellana, and Catracha grew from there. MORE NEWS AND NOTES FROM THE WORLDS OF COFFEE AND TEA SCAA TAPS STARBUCKS: The SCAA announced last month that Starbucks will serve as the Official Host Sponsor for its 2014 and 2015 expositions, both of which will be held in Seattle. Starbucks previously served as the Official Host Sponsor in 2005, when the event also took place in Seattle. | 20 Fresh Cup Magazine freshcup.com