Hacienda San Pedro: The Atienza Family Coffee Legacy in Jayuya

A steep peak with grey rock outcrops and forest in Jayuya, Puerto Rico, with banana plants in the foreground

Mountain in Jayuya, Puerto Rico. Photo: South Atlantic Division (SAD) USACE / Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

Hacienda San Pedro is a family coffee farm in barrio Coabey, Jayuya, in the mountains of central Puerto Rico. The Atienza family has run it since 1931, and it receives visitors at its coffee shop and small museum.

The Farm and the Family

Inside Hacienda San Pedro: a carved rocking chair, a small table with porcelain cups, and sacks marked 100 lbs netas against a timber wall, under a corrugated-iron roof

Hacienda San Pedro in barrio Coabey, Jayuya, Puerto Rico. Photo: Jesse Avilés / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0.

Platea PR describes Emeterio Atienza as a Spaniard who came to Puerto Rico at the age of 13. In 1931 he bought land in barrio Coabey and named the farm Hacienda San Pedro. The farm passed to his son Alberto and then to his grandson, Roberto Atienza, who has worked it for more than four decades. Roberto Atienza's daughter, Rebecca Atienza Ramos, manages the brand and founded its coffee shops, making four generations of the family in all. Farm Credit describes Roberto Atienza as the company's president and as the third generation of the family.

The Coffee

Farm Credit reports 350 acres planted with coffee in barrio Coabey, and an average harvest of 600 to 1,000 quintals, depending on the year. The farm also buys beans from neighbouring growers, and most of its coffee is sold in Puerto Rico. The coffee is processed on the farm, where visitors can see the harvested coffee weighed, hulled and dried. Roberto Atienza told National Geographic that the coffee is dried in metal drums or in the sun on African beds that his grandfather used. He has also continued the family tradition of giving each coffee tree on the plantation its own name. Platea PR reports that hand-harvesting and artisanal drying and roasting have carried through four generations of the family.

Jayuya

The three peaks of Tres Picachos in Jayuya, Puerto Rico, with forested slopes and a tiled roof in the foreground

Tres Picachos, Jayuya, Puerto Rico. Photo: Ligocsicnarf89 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Jayuya is one of the 28 municipalities listed as the coffee zone in the preamble of Ley 78-2019. The Enciclopedia de Puerto Rico describes Jayuya as located in the highest elevations of the Central Mountain Range, the Cordillera Central. The municipality is described in Jayuya: Taíno Mountain Coffee.

Watch: Jayuya Puerto Rico Hacienda Café San Pedro Vídeo #1 — Puertorriqueño100pre

Visiting

Platea PR, in August 2025, gave the farm's address as PR-144, kilometre 8.6, barrio Coabey, Jayuya. It listed opening hours of Friday, noon to 5 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; in December 2021, Primera Hora gave Friday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Visitors can walk trails among the coffee plants, see the processing area, and visit the coffee shop in the wooden house. A small museum on the coffee shop's second floor holds photographs and old machinery from the farm's history. The shop sells whole-bean and ground coffee, and the family also runs four coffee shops in San Juan. Hours change, so confirm with the farm before travelling.

Hurricane María

Hurricane María's centre crossed the southeast coast of Puerto Rico near Yabucoa on 20 September 2017, according to the National Hurricane Center. Roberto Atienza recalled the storm to National Geographic: "Everything was destroyed within a few hours." Published estimates of the damage to the island's coffee differ in what they measure. National Geographic reported that the hurricane destroyed approximately 90 per cent of the island's coffee harvest and plantations. NBC News reported in 2019, citing Puerto Rico's Secretary of Agriculture, Carlos Flores Ortega, that the hurricane destroyed 85 per cent of coffee farm harvests. In the same report, Flores Ortega said the government had so far distributed 500,000 trees to farmers throughout the island. A USDA Forest Service blog post from September 2019 reported that 80 per cent of mature coffee-producing shrubs were lost after Hurricanes Irma and María. Replanted coffee takes time to bear: the University of Puerto Rico's Agricultural Experiment Station reports that the first commercial harvest generally comes in the third year after planting. The island's replanting and recovery are described in Hurricane María and the Puerto Rico Coffee Recovery (2017-2022).

Key Facts

Location: barrio Coabey, Jayuya, Puerto Rico.
In the Atienza family since: 1931.
Founder: Emeterio Atienza.
Generations: four.
Area planted with coffee: 350 acres (Farm Credit, 2024).
Harvest: 600 to 1,000 quintals a year, depending on the year (Farm Credit, 2024).
Address: PR-144, kilometre 8.6, barrio Coabey (Platea PR, 2025).
Opening hours (Platea PR, August 2025): Friday, noon to 5 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Hacienda San Pedro?

It is on road PR-144 at kilometre 8.6, in barrio Coabey, Jayuya, according to Platea PR in August 2025.

Who runs Hacienda San Pedro?

The Atienza family runs it. Farm Credit names Roberto Atienza as the company's president, and Platea PR names his daughter, Rebecca Atienza Ramos, as the brand's manager.

When did the family acquire the farm?

Emeterio Atienza bought the land in barrio Coabey in 1931, according to Platea PR.

Can visitors tour the farm?

Yes. Platea PR describes trails among the coffee plants, a coffee shop in the wooden house, and a small museum on the coffee shop's second floor. Hours change, so confirm with the farm before travelling.

How much coffee does the farm produce?

Farm Credit reports an average of 600 to 1,000 quintals a year, depending on the year, from 350 acres planted with coffee.

Was the farm damaged by Hurricane María?

Yes. Roberto Atienza told National Geographic that "Everything was destroyed within a few hours."

Sources

Rodríguez Negrón, Ángeles R. "Hacienda San Pedro: A century of coffee tradition in Jayuya." Platea PR, 30 August 2025.
Zeynalova, Farida. "Meet the maker: the keeper of Puerto Rico's coffee-making traditions." National Geographic, 27 March 2021, updated 26 April 2023.
Ojeda, Diana. "Hacienda San Pedro: Una rica experiencia cafetalera." Primera Hora, 2 December 2021.
Farm Credit. "Hacienda San Pedro." Page updated 9 September 2024.
Flores, Jessica. "Puerto Rico's coffee farmers work to rebuild what Hurricane Maria destroyed." NBC News, 14 August 2019.
Soto Muñiz, Yaneris M. "Forest Service Helps Small Farmers Hit Hard by Hurricanes." U.S. Department of Agriculture blog, 20 September 2019.
Puerto Rico. "Ley Núm. 78 de 27 de julio de 2019." Oficina de Gerencia y Presupuesto, Biblioteca Virtual.
Pasch, Richard J., Andrew B. Penny and Robbie Berg. "Tropical Cyclone Report: Hurricane Maria (AL152017)." National Hurricane Center, 5 April 2018, updated 4 January 2023.
Estación Experimental Agrícola, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto Universitario de Mayagüez. "Conjunto Tecnológico para la Producción de Café." Publicación 104, revised 2018.
Fundación Puertorriqueña de las Humanidades, Grupo Editorial EPRL. "Jayuya Municipality." Enciclopedia de Puerto Rico, 20 November 2009 (archived copy, 23 August 2019).

Claims this encyclopedia could not source

That Jayuya's soils are fertile, volcanic and weathered.
That roughly 90 per cent of this farm's coffee was destroyed in one night.
A tasting profile for this farm's coffee.
That visitors typically single out the French press preparation.
That the farm participated in named government or federally funded revitalisation programmes.
That Emeterio Atienza came from Palma de Mallorca.
That Emeterio Atienza arrived towards the end of the nineteenth century.
That Jayuya holds the island's highest ground.
That replanting across the island was supported by federally funded revitalisation work.
That Puerto Rican coffee reached the royal tables of Europe in the nineteenth century.
That through the 1950s and 1960s the Holy See purchased approximately 15,000 quintales of Puerto Rican coffee a year, shipped by Sobrino de Mayol Hnos of Ponce.
That Puerto Rico was the sixth-largest exporter of high-grade coffee in the world at its peak.
That Puerto Rico's coffee exports peaked at 579,613 quintales in 1896.

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