Costa Rica Los Santos

Mariela, a Honduran who lived in the United States before settling in Spain, founded Alquimista Coffee Lab in 2017 near Seville. Her path to roasting wound through the Escuela del Alabardero, a stint at a chef driven restaurant in Oakland, and a sales role at Mr. Espresso in San Francisco. A trip back to Honduras reconnected her with her roots and introduced her to Catracha, a cooperative whose farmers receive profit shares reaching double the fair trade minimum. She sources directly from producers with full traceability to individual farms, and roasts in small batches adapted to each origin and extraction method. Alquimista was roasting specialty coffee in the Seville area before the local scene had taken shape. It remains a personal, hands on operation driven by Mariela's dual connection to Central American coffee farming and the craft of roasting.