Origin: Fazenda Sucuri, Cerrado Mineiro, Brazil + Casillas & Jumaytepeque, Jalapa, Guatemala + Los Lirios, Comayagua, Honduras

Producer: Danilo Barbosa & Family + Allan Melgar, Jaime Sanchez, Francisco Pivaral & Eduardo Pivaral + Leodan Bautista

Process: Natural + Washed

Varieties: Red Catuai + Field Blend + Bourbon

Elevation: 1100masl + 1700-1900masl + 1700masl

Importer: Orange Brown Coffee Imports + Semilla

Roast: Extra Medium

Notes: Chocolate, Hazelnut, Dried fruit

Transparency: 

60% Brazil, we paid $5.93 CAD/lb FOB paid to Orange Brown + Shipping, $4.2CAD/lb (equivalent in usd at the time) green coffee paid to Barbosa Family. 

20% Guatemala, we paid Semilla $6USD/lb + shipping & storage, their FOB price was $4.5USD/lb. Farmgate price paid to producers was 2564 Quetzal per quintal of parchment (42% higher than national farmgate of 1800 Quetzals).

20% Honduras, we paid Semilla $6.28USD/lb + shipping & storage, their FOB price was $4.47USD/lb. Farmgate price was 18,500 Lempira per carga of parchment paid to Leodan Bautista (54% higher than national farmgate of 12,000 Lempira).

Can't Complain, ode to the Nova Scotian coffee drinker.

Can't Complain is one of our main staple coffees, our favourite house espresso for ease of use and consistency, especially delicious in milk. It does well as a low-acid filter option as well, roasted deep into a medium profile, it extracts easily and brings a nice round, sweet cup. We focus on bringing in approachable low-acid coffees for it, that are chocolatey and nutty.  A coffee inspired by Nova Scotia’s love for low acid, crushable coffees. We hope this coffee fills you with the nostalgia of diner coffees past, but better.

This current iteration of Can't Complain is a blend of Red Catuai from Brazil, a Field Blend from Guatemala, and a Bourbon from Honduras. The Brazilian is from the Barbosa Family, whom we've purchased from for four years. The Guatemalan is a community lot from the Cafe Colis Resistencia group, whom we have purchased from for two years. The Bourbon is from Leodan Bautista, whom we have purchased from for two years.

Brazil - The Barbosa family in Cerrado Mineiro.

Danilo is a Brazilian farmer whose family farm goes generations back, he prides himself in the quality of their coffee, being extremely diligent in the processing and quality control work they do.

Cerrado Mineiro is a very desirable area to grow coffee in. Higher altitudes, and lower temperatures allow for the coffee to ripen slower than lower altitude regions, resulting in a sweeter, cleaner coffee. This coffee is grown on 10 hectares of irrigated fields, managed by Danilo and his family.

Guatemala - Volcancito, Cafe Colis Resistencia, and a Canadian silver mine.

This is our second year purchasing coffees from the Volcancito group out of Casillas in Nueva Santa Rosa, Guatemala.

We are happy to support the Volcancito group. This project and their partners Cafe Colis Resistencia were how I had first learned of Semilla via Drew at Bow's Coffee Roasters(BC), and their efforts to import coffee from these folks.

I reached out to Drew when he made a call for Canadian roasters to help take a large amount of coffee that was being imported from the Cafe Colis Resistencia group. I wasn't roasting yet, but the work being done resonated with how I wanted to buy our coffee, and so I got in touch with Brendan from Semilla.

Cafe Colis Resistencia and El Volcancito are at the forefront of a political and literal battle with the Canadian owned & operated Escobal Silver Mine(Pan-America Silver Company), built on indigenous land with no consultation from the local people. 

Semilla has this well documented and written up on their website, which I will provide a link for. This story is a good glimpse into the struggles of coffee producers and indigenous people everywhere, and the struggles they have to live through under the threat of political and corporate profit.

We're happy to support the indigenous Xinca people who are a part of this project, and their fight against the oppressive goals of one of the largest silver mining companies in the world. 

Semilla's write up about Cafe Colis Resistencia - head here to read more about El Volcancito and the Cafe Colis Resistencia story.

Honduras - Leodan Bautista in Comayagua

Leodan is a young farmer in the Montecillo mountain range. We had the great pleasure of meeting him in Honduras and spending time on his farm. We got to share coffee together and hit it off over a love of trucks. Leodan was producing much more coffee than Semilla was buying so we decided to commit to purchasing more and more of his coffee which you can find in our seasonal Hilux Espresso, or his Natural Bourbon being presented under his own name. 

Happy Sippin!