I've stood at the base of Acatenango and it's a lot to take in. The thing is huge, cold, over 13,000 feet, and people are up there growing coffee on its slopes. Entre Volcanes is a program for the small growers working those slopes, run by San Miguel in Guatemala.
Small growers bring coffee cherries to the San Miguel mill and the folks from San Miguel take it from there. They de-pulp, ferment, and wash the coffee before carefully drying it - all at their state of the art facility.
I cupped a lot of samples out of the Entre Volcanes program this year, and this lot didn't make me work to notice it. It's sweet, it's balanced, and it's got this thick, syrupy body that just coats your mouth.
We've been working with San Miguel since 2018 and they've turned into one of our best partners. Organized, obsessive about quality, and good to the people they work with. Adrian Cabrera, who runs the operation now, has been pushing quality improvements since I met him. I am so proud to be working with him and San Miguel - he’s an amazing guy who embodies the San Miguel spirit. One of my favourite things about going to Guatemala is getting in the truck with him and driving out to farms. You watch how he is with the growers and the trust is right there on the surface. It's real.
And they don't stop at paying well for the coffee, though they do that too. They front producers money, help them get their hands on the stuff they need for their farms, and run agricultural training. They even built a free medical clinic that the growers and their families can actually use.
This is the kind of coffee we're in it for. Tastes awesome, processed with care, and grown inside a relationship we've spent years building.
