Our story

Our story goes back to 1986 when my father, Abdel Ramos Ferez (or Don Abdel) established a partnership with my grandfather, Mr Salvador Vivas. Together, they found a few acres of land that were for sale on the mountains surrounding the east side of Lake Yojoa, in Central Honduras. The views of the magnificent Cerro Azul Meambar National Park towering at 2,047 mts to the east and the Santa Barbara National Park to the west were just breathtaking. I remember waking up in the mornings, looking out the window and admiring the peaks rising above the clouds, while tropical birds were singing their morning rituals. With the perfectly slanted hills, natural shade, and an extremely fertile soil, it was the perfect location for the beginning of a dream.

Located in the Montecillos Coffee Region, my family’s coffee farm was one of the best in the region. My family focused on producing high quality Arabica beans, mainly of the Caturra, Bourbon, and Catui varieties.

Fast forward to 2009, I relocated to Cincinnati, OH to start my career as an industrial engineer after finishing grad school in Upstate NY. When I arrived to Cincinnati, I immediately fell in love with the city. Cincinnati is a very diverse and up-and-coming city with deep passion for great coffee, great food, and a vibrant soccer scene… it reminded me of my home country. But over the years I noticed that Honduran coffee was not very well known in Ohio, particularly in Cincinnati. After living in multiple states and countries -including New York, California, Texas, and Mexico-, I didn’t really understand why Honduran coffee was not being shared with the world, despite its unique flavor and quality.

While I was establishing a new life in Cincinnati, Honduras was going through major political, social, and economic unrest. This unrest, compounded with a severe decline in the world market price of coffee, prevented farmers to have acceptable living standards. Farmers could not meet their family’s needs. The decline in the global prices of coffee resulted in many farms shutting down, unemployment skyrocketed, and ultimately migration became the only option for many people. I watched how farmers, growers, and harvesters were not be able to provide for their families. During this period, my family had to immigrate to the USA to pursue a new beginning, a fresh start.

“The dream for helping my country never faded. I realized that I had an opportunity to change the world by sharing good quality coffee in my new home, while contributing to the fair trade of coffee”

Years passed by but I never lost the desire to help my country and my people. I knew that Honduras was capable of changing things. I knew that the country could produce some of the best coffee in the world and I was not wrong. In the last few years, production of high quality or specialty coffee in Honduras has increased dramatically. With investment in research and development and better production practices, Honduran coffee has experienced significant recognition by the coffee industry. In turn, Honduran farmers and growers are finally being able to access better opportunities to sell their high quality coffee at fair prices through direct trade. This allows people in my home country to finally enjoy the life that we all deserve. But there is so much more that we could be doing. For most of the world, Honduran coffee is still unknown. This is even more evident in Cincinnati and the USA as a whole.

Move forward to 2021, in the middle of a global pandemic, I took a leap of faith and bought my first 250g Drum Roaster. I started the long-sought-dream of sharing my passion and love for coffee and community with the world. In April of 2021, I embarked on a 1,000+ kms journey through the Western Sierras searching for outstanding coffee. From an all-women operated Cooperative in Marcala to a 4th generation producer family in Copán, I met some of the most passionate and hardworking farmers. They love what they do, they are extremely proud of the coffee that they grow, and they want a better future for their families and the communities that they are part of. Loaded with 70+ lbs of green beans in my checked bags, I traveled back to Cincinnati, OH and carefully roasted and evaluated each sample, over and over again until I found the best coffee for you. This coffee is a testament to my passion for community and high quality coffee...

Today I am the founder and owner of Viva Coffee Roasters. Give our coffee a try. You will fall in love with it and the country where it came from.

Muchas Gracias!

Gerardo A. Ramos Vivas

1C13:13

Gerardo A. RAmos Vivas - Founder and master roaster

Biography

Many people ask me this question: “What made you get into coffee? Why are you doing this?”. I wish that the answer was something simple like: “I really love coffee and I wanted to make a positive influence”. But fortunately, or unfortunately, my answer is a bit more complicated than that. It all comes down to one thing: “Because I want to give back to the world and help the people from my home country Honduras.”
But let me give you some context and history. I was born and raised in Honduras. In 2006, shortly after finishing college, I immigrated to Rochester, NY with the purpose of completing my master’s in engineering. And although I was very happy that my family and I could pursue the American dream, I still remember crying the entire flight from Tegucigalpa, my hometown, to the USA.

I knew that immigrating to the USA was a good thing for us as a family. I was able to go to grad school, hopefully get a good job as an engineer, and finally have a life that we all deserve. I was able to finish my graduate degree in 2009 and shortly after that I found a job near Cincinnati, OH as an engineer in the automotive industry. The problem was: “what about the other millions of Hondurans that I left behind? What about those that don’t have the opportunity and blessing to be able to get an education, a well-paying job, and have a dignifying life?” But I couldn’t do anything about it… just yet. I had finally finished my degree but had a lot of debt coming out of grad school, I was living in a new country, and all I knew was that I had to work hard to establish a new life in Cincinnati.

Now another key piece of information before we get into the “why coffee?” question. All through grad school and during my early professional years I was able to meet a lot of people and make a few friends. Being passionate about my home country, its culture, and its people, I started inviting friends to go on vacations with me to Honduras. I was a version of a “tour guide” that planned the entire trip and gave my friends the true local experience. One day, in 2019, after I had already taken about 50 people to Honduras, I asked myself: “what if I open a tour operator company and start taking people to Honduras to help with tourism?” This would help the local economy and show tourists the beauty of the country and its people. It was then when I took the first attempt at solving the question: “what about the other Hondurans that I left behind?”. Unfortunately, I did not consider that a global pandemic would disrupt the entire world order. In 2020, my travel business went bankrupt. I was disappointed, I was sad because my dream had been lost. The tourism industry was shattered into pieces, and it would take many years to recover. But the hope that I could help Honduras and its people never left my heart. I kept asking myself: “how can I help? how can I improve the lives of Honduran people? I’ve been so blessed and fortunate, but how can I help other people have access to the same life that I was blessed with?”

So now to the coffee question. My connection to coffee goes back to 1986. Back then, my dad and my grandfather bought a small coffee plantation near Lake Yojoa, in Western Honduras. I remember going to the farm on the weekends to help pick coffee during harvest. I remember my dad talking about the challenges and problems with the farm: fluctuation of coffee prices, crime and security problems, poor relationships with traders and brokers, many, many challenges. My family eventually gave up.  But coffee was always in our hearts. It helped build our family. It helped build our community, and it is the main source of income for almost 10% of Honduras’ population during harvest season.

One Saturday night in December 2020, while having dinner with my family, we started talking about the family’s coffee plantation. We were dreaming about better conditions for the farms and farmers and how we all missed the beautiful views of the surrounding mountains. I could not stop thinking about it the entire ride back to my place. I kept asking myself: “what if I import green coffee beans from Honduras and roast them in Cincinnati? What if I can partner up with local small farmers and have true direct and fair-trade relationships? What if I don’t undercut their prices? What if I donate some of my revenue for local projects? What if I can help my country by letting the world know about Honduras and its great coffee?” I didn’t know where to start but being an engineer, I knew that all I needed was passion, time, and effort to figure it out.

That same night I ordered a “coffee roasting” book online. It arrived two days later, and it took me one day to finish reading and studying it. The next day I said: “well, there’s only one way to find out if I can make this work, I need to buy a roaster and green beans”. And that’s what I did! That same night I ordered a small 250g roaster and a small batch of green coffee beans. Things started happening quickly and organically. I had found my calling. In April 2021, I embarked on a journey and drove more than 1,000 kms through the Western Sierras of Honduras searching for outstanding coffee. From an all-women operated Cooperative in Marcala, to a 4th generation producer family in Copán, I met some of the most passionate and hardworking farmers. They love what they do, they are extremely proud of the coffee that they grow, and they want a better future for their families and the communities that they are part of. The rest is history.

Today, my dream of truly helping my home country and making a difference in the world is starting to become a reality. I have been able to develop some of the highest quality and masterfully crafted roasted coffee beans, while also establishing truly direct and fair-trade relationships with small farmers in Honduras. I feel honored to have this great opportunity to really do something about people that need help. I have been very blessed… why not share those blessings with those who need it the most?

In summary, “what made me get into coffee? Why am I doing this?”. I am doing this because it is my faith-based and moral responsibility to share my blessings with the world.

“My dream is to make the world a better place through fair and direct trade with Honduran producers and growers, while roasting high quality coffee locally in Cincinnati, OH”

enjoy a cup of great quality coffee while CONTRIBUTING to happiness, JOY, and love in the world