Beantrotters
FROM FARM TO CUP: THE STORIES BEHIND TOBY’S COFFEE
Every great cup of coffee begins with the hands that plant the seeds. We’re excited to take you on a journey through Latin America, where we visited the incredible coffee producer partners.
How do we get hold of those tasty beans ? Well, it’s simple (at least to say), really. Our coffee producers are valued just as highly as our customers, receiving the care and support they deserve. We’re committed to creating a fair and sustainable supply chain that not only supports our growers and their communities but also secures the future of coffee for generations to come. We can achieve this because of our direct trade partnerships.
In our Bean Trotters series, we’ll show you the people, landscapes, and farms that bring Toby’s coffee to life. Each episode uncovers the dedication and passion of our partners in growing the beans you enjoy in every cup.
LET'S BEGIN:
Guatemala
Day 1 | Guatemala | Beneficio de Cafe La Concepcion
Meet Christian Rasch! His company, La Central de Cafe, receives coffee cherries daily from small producers. Christian has been sourcing coffee for us for the past 11 years. We have a great relationship in order to provide small producers with really good benefits, good pricing, and good returns.
Day 2 | Guatemala | Primavera Green Coffee
Meet Nadine Rasch, the founder of Primavera Green Coffee. What makes Guatemalan coffees so special? And... how many samples did we cup?!
El Salvador
Day 3 | El Salvador | J Hill Coffee Company
Meet Aida Batlle! She's a 5th generation coffee producer from El Salvador. We're here visiting J Hill Coffee Company, where Aida processes coffee. We've had the pleasure of working with Aida for the past 3 years!
Day 4 | El Salvador | El Borbollon
Meet Eduardo Alvarez! He's the Operations Manager at El Borbollon. El Borbollon is a family-owned business producing coffee for 40 years. They pride themselves on having very strict processes, from when coffee cherries come in from the farms to the bags shipped to their customers worldwide.
Day 5 | El Salvador | Odyssey Coffee
Meet Adri - the Commercial Manager at Odessey Coffees. They produce and source El Salvador’s finest coffees, processing, storing, and exporting them while providing roasters and partners with complete seed-to-cup traceability and transparency.
Costa Rica
Day 6 | Costa Rica | Cafetalera Origenes
Meet Rebecca Moyer! Cafetalera Origenes as a project started 7 years ago - right as our relationship started to blossom. They've done an incredible job at highlighting the small producers within the small regions of Costa Rica - like Rafael!
Day 7 | Costa Rica | Cafe La Cumbre
Meet Minor & Nancy Jimenez, a husband and wife coffee-producing duo who started their project - Cafe La Cumbre, 10 years ago. They mainly specialise in Natural, Fully Washed & Red Honey process. Café La Cumbre is committed to introducing environmental criteria in their activities and ensuring that workers who carry out activities in the different areas of the company take these criteria into account, with the final purpose of contributing actively to the environmental conservation of our planet!
Day 8 | Costa Rica | Cafe Monte Brisas
Meet Maria Elena Castro! She's the mother of the founder of micro beneficio Monte Brisas. A family-owned business that has produced coffee on four different farms for over 40 years. Their first farm, Finca Salaca, started with varieties like Caturra, Catuai, Villasarchi, and Villalobos - eventually introducing the Geisha variety. Due to the change in their weather conditions, they've had to experiment with changing those varieties to withstand these changes. Tune in to find out more about her coffee journey!
Panama
Day 9 | Panama | Lost Origin Coffee & Altieri Specialty Coffee
Meet Franz, Head of Coffee Processing for Lost Origin Coffee. Franz has over 10 years of experience with craft brewing and has since turned to invest and focus on the world of specialty coffee. It's been a solid two years since then, and the team there are doing a killer job! We're also excited to work with Roger from Altieri for the first time - he's got some amazing coffees on offer, and we can't wait to share his coffees with you!
Day 10 | Panama | Hacienda La Esmeralda & Longboard Specialty Coffee
Meet Alex from La Esmeralda & Justin, owner of Longboard Specialty Coffee. Hacienda La Esmeralda is proud to be the true origin of the wonders of Panama Geisha. 2004 marked a spot in coffee history with the discovery of geisha coffee's beautiful attributes and diverse cup profiles on their farms. Justin's passion at Longboard is the authentic expression of terroir by cultivating Geisha coffee. Through this passion, a lifelong love of organic farming, conservation, adventure and flavour has found a way to manifest through the prism of coffee. It has become a spiritual pursuit.
Day 11 | Panama | Savage Coffees
Meet Jamison Savage, founder of Savage Coffees. At Savage Coffees, they specialize in advanced fermentation techniques, from their cultivation to the nuanced flavours of Carbonic Maceration and the depth of Anaerobic processing; they're not just redefining coffee – but they're shaping a new frontier of flavour. Join us as we visit Jamison's farm, Finca Deborah - home to the healthiest geisha trees we've ever seen!
Colombia
Day 12 | Colombia | Aromas Del Sur
Meet the legend himself, Rodrigo Sánchez, fourth gen coffee producer and founder of Aromas Del Sur. Together with his wife Claudia and his daughter Natalia, this family has dedicated themselves to developing a coffee project which is now recognised on the world stage. Aromas Del Sur have more than 210 unique profiles between specialty coffees, blends and unique coffee or origin. Our Flavour Savour series couldn't be made possible without these innovations.
Day 13 | Colombia | El Mirador
Meet Elkin Guzman, Manager of El Mirador in Huila. For 20 years this Elkin and his team have been fine tuning their processing methods, fermentations and drying processes to achieve remarkable cup profiles. Through years of trial and error, he and Rodrigo Sánchez reverse engineered coffee profiles creating brews with flavours and aromas so prominent, even your nan could identify them.