Guatemala 2024 Recap
At Crimson, we pride ourselves on our relationships with producers. To us, coffee is much more than just an enjoyable beverage—it’s a collaborative experience where every participant is vital, from the grower to the roaster, to the barista to the drinker. This past week, Our Director of Sustainability, Brandon Bir, had the opportunity to travel to Guatemala to visit our friends at Finca el Cadejo and Finca El Morito for a coffee trip.
On the first day, Brandon hung out with our friend Jorge De Leon and his family. Jorge is a coffee professional that does it all; exporting, quality control, sourcing, roasting, and he has owned his own café for 10 years. This was the 12th year that our team has been visiting Jorge and his family, and they had the opportunity to cup our newest coffees alongside him and his brother. They also discussed this year's harvest and any new challenges or opportunities they were facing. Conversations like this are so important in order for us, the buyers, to better understand our farmers and the realities of the coffee community.
On the second day, Brandon was off to visit Mario and his family at Finca El Cadejo. There, they cupped the new crop, discussed the purchase and shipment of his coffee, and shared some of our current coffees with him. They broke bread together with the family and enjoyed catching up, while learning even more about the history of the farm and coffee production in Guatemala.
On the last day, they woke up extra early to get on the road and travel southwest of the city for a few hours to visit our new friend Roberto Monterroso at Finca El Morito. Roberto was a milk farmer before deciding to get into coffee. He grows a significant amount to high quality coffee, alongside some of the most competition-ready coffee in Guatemala. Roberto is a competitive guy, who set a goal of winning the Cup of Excellence. After seven years of submissions, Roberto reeled in his first top place finish at last year’s COE competition.
Roberto is also the producer of our Good Food Finalist coffee, which we are excited to share with you soon. After a little conversation over a delicious cup of yellow pacamara, they headed to the cupping lab to cup 16 of his fresh crop coffees. These coffees were all exceptional, including our Good Food Finalist coffee. After a couple hours of conversation, they went to his home and shared a meal with stories. Brandon said, “it was an absolute pleasure to spend the day at Finca El Morito.”