First off, we are so sorry it has taken us so long to post up pics about this trip . Secondly, we are woefully behind in posts on this blog. For that we apologize. Our new plan is to post something on here once a month, with the hope of becoming even more regular than that. Keep us accountable and feel free to remind us if we are behind!
We had the great opportunity to visit the wonderful country of Guatemala this past March. Guatemala is dear to our heart. It is where the seeds of Cup to Cup were planted, so going back was very exciting!
Our friends at Thrive took us to visit some farms and the main processing facility for their Guatemalan coffees. We had the opportunity to visit El Tempixque farm and San Sebastian farm. These are pretty large farms in the Antigua region. They work in the Thrive chain by assisting smaller farms in processing coffees as well as giving small farms agricultural advice. Plus they’re really nice people with really great coffee.
There is a huge difference between understanding the processing of coffee and actually seeing it in person. It was great to be able to ask questions to the mill manager, and get a better grasp of what happens to coffee after it has been harvested.
We also got to see the small farmer aspect of growing coffee. Venicio is the president of a small farmer group outside of Guatemala City. He took us on a personal tour of his farm.
Contrary to popular belief, origin trips aren’t about going to a country, walking through the woods and picking an area of land you like, asking for coffee from there and bringing it back in luggage on the plane. Origin trips are about establishing relationships, understanding the hard work the farmer puts in to his product and encouraging him in his work. Any requests that might happen in regards to processing or sorting would generally apply to the next year’s harvest, and coffee tasting rarely happens at the farm itself.
Fast forward to earlier this month where we had the opportunity to visit Thrive and cup from Venicio and his association’s coffee. The coffee is amazing! We are so excited to be carrying it and will be stocking up on a good supply because this is coffee worth sharing.
We also got to cup coffees from other farmers, including Franklin Garbanzo, a farmer we have been buying from for two years now.
We are continually learning about coffee, being blown away by its many aspects and being humbled by the amazing people we get to work with.