Kansas City's Doña Fina Café keeps family tradition alive, one cup of coffee at a time

By Claudia Brancart,

Published April 13, 2024 at 5:00 AM CDT

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The Noguera family farm, Los Caulotes, is in the mountainous region of Quezaltepeque, Guatemala, and has been in the family for more than a century.

Erika Cecilia Noguera is the owner of Doña Fina Café, a Kansas City coffee company that roasts and sells beans grown on her family's farm in Guatemala. She says Doña Fina — which is named for her great-grandmother — is about telling the story of coffee, and of the people who make it.

More than 60 % of Americans drink coffee every day, but not many of us know how much goes into producing a single cup.

Sharing the story of coffee — and the people who farm and process the plant — was Erika Cecilia Noguera's inspiration for starting Doña Fina Café during the pandemic.

Named for Noguera's great-grandmother, Doña Fina is a Kansas City coffee company that roasts and sells beans grown by her father on their family farm in the mountainous region of Quezaltepeque, Guatemala. The farm, Los Caulotes, has been in the family for more than a century.

"It's been fun to kind of work with my dad," Noguera told KCUR's Up To Date. "We're still figuring out how to make it all work. But it's a real labor of love and a real pleasure and privilege."

Erika Cecilia Noguera, owner of Doña Fina Café