Coffee Blossom Honey - Limited Release - Francisco Cardona

Coffee Blossom Honey | Francisco “Chico” Cardona | La Colmenita

After our debut with Coffee Blossom Honey from Jorge Mendez and we thought it would be difficult to find other honey producers but learned that while not many bee keepers are in the northwest mountains of Guatemala those who dot the mountainside are in it because they have a passion for it and are willing to do the hard work to produce a great product. It provides an additional source of revenue for many who depend on a volatile market and cyclical yields of an agricultural product such as coffee. Part of our mission is to support small producers in efforts to provide long-term economic sustainability. Producing honey not only provides an additional source of revenue, but it has the added value of increasing cross-pollination, and it is a liquid asset as a local consumable! Having an additional product that can be sold or traded locally as well as exported creates more options for a small coffee producer, allowing them to become more independent and have a bright future. 

Francisco “Chico” Cardona’s journey began in the coffee fields, where he was born into the rhythm of picking cherries. By fifteen, he was already working full-time on neighboring farms, driven by a dream that seemed distant: owning his own land. Growing up in poverty, Chico saved for a decade before buying a humble ten-square-meter plot to start cultivating coffee. But it was a chance conversation with other farmers that sparked a new path. Hearing about the extra income they earned from selling honey, Chico ventured into beekeeping with just twenty-five frames. Those early years were a struggle—he almost lost all of his colonies. Yet, through trial and error, he learned to work with the bees and found a deep passion for it. Today, Chico owns and tends to three apiaries and 150 hives, and it's no surprise that his farm bears the name "La Colmenita," meaning “The Little Beehive.” His story is one of resilience, vision, and a love for the land that’s as sweet as the honey it produces.

Tasting notes: a subtle sweetness with delicate lavender notes. Pairs well with coffee, tea, cheese

Crystallization: Three things make honey more likely to crystallize: 

Temperature below 50ºF (10ºC) |The ratio of glucose and fructose in the honey | Pollen content

To turn your Coffee Blossom Honey back into a smooth liquid, put your honey in a vessel of warm water and allow it to slowly liquify. 

NOTE: Raw honey is not suitable for infants.