Antonio Ticas was born into a family of coffee farmers. He is the fourth generation and his children, determined to take over, will be the fifth generation. He lived there till he was 15 years old, when he moved to the Capital City San Salvador, to study his high school and then college, he graduated as a Industrial Engineer. When he was 36 he moved to Honduras, where he represented El Salvador as a Consul, and where he also dedicated himself to growing coffee. After six years he returned to Citala, and dedicated himself to follow on his grandfather steps. He has been perfecting his processing techniques since then. When he inherited the land from his father, there were only 4 manzanas of coffee trees (1 manzana is 0.7 hectares). After many years of investment, Antonio now has 15 manzanas of coffee. He has been working on his farm since 1993.
Don Toño, as all his friends call him, was born and raised in Citalá, a small town in the south of Chalatenango, very close the boarder with Honduras. In Mayan Chortí language, the name of the town means "river of stars". From this town, Don Toño drives 30 minutes to his farm at 1,600 m.a.s.l., to check on his Pacamara, Gesha, Pacas and Catuaí plantation. He loves doing Natural and Honey process because "the smell of the cherry when you open a store bag it’s the best" he said, "and also the final quality".
Don Toño processes all his coffees avoiding the use of water. He has perfected his processes and maybe that´s the reason why he always ends up in the top places at COE every time he competes.
