Episode 47 - Connecting Farmers with Roasters – A Conversation with Benjamin Paz

About this episode

Tim Wendelboe interviews coffee producer Benjamin Paz about connecting farmers with buyers and the challenges in coffee production.

In this episode, I sit down with Benjamin Paz, a coffee producer from Santa Bárbara, Honduras, and one of the key people behind San Vicente, a coffee exporting company working with over 600 producers in Honduras. His role is to connect producers with buyers, helping to build lasting and healthy relationships that allow both farmers and roasters to grow together.Benjamin’s family has been in coffee since the 1950s, but it was through the Cup of Excellence that they became closely tied to the specialty coffee world. He has since won the competition twice himself, in 2022 and 2024, and continues to inspire producers with his belief that hard work makes anything possible.In our conversation, Benjamin talks about the challenges producers are facing today, from unpredictable weather to pests appearing in new areas, and the importance of keeping workers in the country to secure the future of coffee production. He explains the role of the “middleman” in specialty coffee – helping farmers improve their processing, define a strategy for their farms, and find long-term buyers.Benjamin also shares his personal reasons for buying his own farm, running a coffee shop, and starting a roastery –…

People in this episode

Host: Tim Wendelboe

Guest: Benjamin Paz

Topics covered

• coffee production
• sustainable agriculture
• producer-buyer relationships
• specialty coffee
• challenges in farming

Keywords

• coffee
• Honduras
• farmers
• roasters
• sustainability
• regenerative agriculture
• specialty coffee

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: San Vicente, TW Biological Project

Places: Santa Bárbara, Honduras

More episodes of Tim Wendelboe Podcast

• Episode 56: Evolution, Genetics, and the Future of Coffee – A Conversation with Professor Andreas Tribsch. · June 5, 2026 · 1h 0m
• Episode 55: Ranked No. 2 in the World – Exceeding Guest Expectations with Stephanie Dawn Holm · May 21, 2026 · 54 min
• Episode 54 - The Future of Honduran Coffee: The Biofilia Transition - A conversation with Benjamin Paz · April 28, 2026 · 15 min
• Episode 53 - Adapting coffee farms to prepare for the future – A Conversation with Moises Herrera from Finca el Puente · April 14, 2026 · 33 min
• Episode 52 - Transitioning to Biological Farming – A Conversation with Diego Baraona · March 24, 2026 · 27 min
• Episode 51 - Purchasing coffees in Kenya - Live from the cupping lab · February 11, 2026 · 40 min