Founded by Eduardo Duran and now stewarded by his three sons—Barney, Kendall, and Arnold—this family-run micromill began as a humble project to process coffee from their own farms. But what started as a small-scale endeavor soon evolved into a beacon for neighboring producers and a hub for some of the region’s most expressive microlots. At Los Duran, tradition reigns—not as resistance to change, but as a foundation for craft. While Eduardo’s sons bring modern tools and tech-savvy to the table—especially Kendall, whose background in software sharpens their business edge—it’s their deep-rooted connection to the land and to one another that gives Los Duran its soul. This is more than a wet mill. It’s a family legacy written in parchment and sun, in terroir and time—where every cup tells a story that begins in the heart of Costa Rica.
A first-generation (F1) hybrid originating from a cross between rust-resistant [T5296] (/varieties/t5296) and the Ethiopian landrace variety Rume Sudan. Centroamericano is resistant to coffee leaf rust, is extremely high yielding (in breeding evaluations, it showed production increases of 22–47% over the standard varieties in Central America). Centroamericano has also proven to have exceptional cup quality potential when well-managed at high altitudes. It was released in 2010 for farmers in Central America.The variety was created by a consortium including French research institute CIRAD, a regional network of national coffee institutes in Central America (PROMECAFE), and a coffee genebank in Costa Rica (CATIE). F1 hybrid varieties are still relatively new in coffee agriculture; only a handful have become commercially available to farmers in the last 15 years, and only in select countries.
