rodrigo, the coffee hunter
Rodrigo's take on qualities of being Honduran: Charming. Resilient. Entrepreneur.
On a likely steep hill in the Honduran countryside runs a kid yelling "Mamá, viene el señor del café." Rodrigo feels strange to be called 'señor'. The word conveys an older, perhaps stern man so, for a minute, he reflects on his trajectory to determine if the title fits. Before he reaches a conclusion, Rodrigo arrives at the kid's home and is reminded that he is there to collect coffee for 'Primero Café'.
Primero Café is the business Rodrigo started with his brother Randal and their mother, Nora, after their attempt at growing plantains in 2020 first flooded during hurricane Eta and then two weeks later vanished after Hurricane Iota. Although Randal has a degree in agriculture and Rodrigo has a liking for permaculture, he admits that the three of them knew little about coffee. Despite this, Randal and Rodrigo heeded a suggestion from a friend of their mother's to meet with coffee producers in the western department of Copán.
After many coffee tastings and countless conversations about the challenges coffee growers face, especially to mobilize production to market, Rodrigo and Randal were convinced that they had a role to play as exporters in the coffee value chain. Upon their return to Tegucigalpa, they both enrolled in a barista program and, together with their mother, chose the varieties and blends they would offer through Primero Café.
The learning curves have been endless; from understanding the coffee value chain and coffee quality to dealing with the challenges of starting a business during the pandemic (i.e. country lockdowns truncated exports and coffee tours) and having to learn about branding and marketing. "What do we know?" has become the constant conversation starter among them.
Rodrigo describes Primero Café as a passion project, something he does because of the joy it brings to him. He dreams of becoming a coffee hunter and enjoying the freedom of traveling through Honduras and the world in service of sharing the highest quality coffee through fair and equitable exchanges that place producers front and center.
Coffee means more to Rodrigo than any other business he has been involved in. Coffee is an opportunity to honor his deceased brother, Alejandro. Alejandro was the oldest of four siblings and was a fatherly figure to Rodrigo, who is the youngest of the four. Alejandro was the soul of every social event and 'primero, café' (first, coffee) was an expression he used to invite others to delight in the pleasures of life around a good cup of coffee.
Primero Café is meant to remind coffee drinkers about the ceremonial tradition of drinking coffee, about the opportunity it creates to bring levity to life, and about the many special moments that surround the tradition of drinking coffee with friends and family. Their most popular blend is called Momentos, as a reminder to cherish every moment, for, as Alejandro used to tell Rodrigo, "let's go for the coffee today, because tomorrow is uncertain."
Rodrigo, who has been a globetrotter and has lived in places like Denmark and Costa Rica, thinks Honduras is a paradise; a place that shares more similarities than differences with the rest of the world. He wishes it were better organized, better managed, and that people would value technical skills more.
He envisions a Honduras that has turned the page to become a place like Singapore which, after prioritizing the common good, became one of the most admired success stories of Asia. He imagines a Honduras where people understand the benefits of being transparent and honest and where people can make a good living doing the things they love, without fear.
"You are as good as those who you know"
In telling the story about how Primero Café developed, Rodrigo tells the story about a woman he met in 1999 through a student exchange program he participated in. After many years of silence among them, her concern about the hurricanes that hit Honduras in 2020 created an opportunity for them to catch up. During their virtual coffee, he happened to mention he was now embarking in the coffee business. She also just happened to mention that a good friend of hers who just happened to be in her town because of the lockdowns in Europe just happened to be a world-renowned award-winning Italian roaster. Rodrigo just happens to now be in touch with him. Similar things occurred when he just happened to run into a former schoolmate who just happens to own a coffee farm or when he just happened to mention the business to his neighbor who just happens to run the convention center where Primero Café is now sold.
Things never just happen. Rodrigo brings such warmth, playfulness, and delight to the world and such honesty and passion for Primero Cafe, that it is no surprise that people feel drawn to collaborate with him. It is no surprise that the post-pandemic coffee tour he has planned with Randal and Nora across Europe and the eastern United States is organized entirely around the broad network of people they know who are opening doors for them to the coffee world abroad. It is through relationships that their business started and how it will undoubtedly succeed, for Rodrigo, Randal and Nora are people who approach their "What do we know?" conversations with "primero, café."
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“Seek advice. Educate yourself and get the skills to run your business. Seek the support of other entrepreneurs; they will become the people who will encourage you to keep going when you want to give up. ” — Rodrigo Godoy
Rodrigo was born in Tegucigalpa and spent his childhood in El Salvador, Costa Rica and Honduras. After completing highschool, he spent a year abroad in Denmark with the American Field Service. He then went to college in Costa Rica and spent 15 years there before returning to Honduras in 2011. He jokes that he doesn't believe in growing roots, for he is not a tree.
You can find Primero Café on Facebook, Instagram or the Primero Café Website.