“As many of you know, Juan Luis started a coffee cooperative in his hometown of Union Cantinil, Guatemala about 15 years ago. His goal then was always to bring together the farmers as a group to help them collectively earn more for their coffee and build a better life for themselves and their families. He never gave up on that dream and that remained his goal when he started La Coop.
Last week 27 farmers (Juan’s father included) loaded up their coffee in Guatemala to send to us here in D.C. They were paid above market price for their coffee as Juan always intended when he formed the cooperative- to make sure they are not just getting by, but earning a living. Many of them came together proudly to pose for the above photo after turning in their coffee to begin its journey to us here in DC. They went out to celebrate that afternoon, filled with joy and pride to know that their hard work had paid off and that Juan never gave up on his dream of helping them build a better life for t
Photo courtesy of Confident Coffee Roasters, which came to life with a new shop this year in Northwest Arkansas (see story below).
While the COVID-19 pandemic made 2020 an unspeakably brutal year for many existing coffee roasting companies large and small especially those that leaned heavily on wholesale a fresh crop of roasting startups managed to sprout up through the trampled dirt.
A number of these new roasters are leveraging their founders’ personal and familial connections to specific coffee-producing farms, resulting in near-direct connections between consumers in the United States and certain producers in Kenya, Guatemala, Panama, Honduras, Colombia and more.