Origin: Volcancito, Casilles, Santa Rosa, Guatemala

Producer: Jose Rodriguez

Process: Washed

Varieties: Yellow Catuia

Altitude: 1800masl

Importer: Semilla

Roast: Medium-Light

Notes: Pear, Almond, Milk Chocolate

Transparency: We paid Semilla $4.95/lb + shipping and brokerage for a 8 bags, Semilla paid 1950 quetzales per quintal(100lb) of parchment. the average local rate for parchment in the area was around 1,200 quetzales per quintal. FOB price was $3.90USD/lb.

ah, the big sipper, our ideal every day drinker. This profile is designed to be medium in acidity, high in sweetness, and very crushable. Though the coffee may change in big sipper, the profile will always be focused on bringing you a clean, easy drinking cup of coffee.

Jose Rodriguez

José has been growing coffee all his life and learned everything he knows about the crop from his father who grew coffee since he was a child. Six years ago he joined the peaceful resistance in his municipality, Casillas, against the mining that is taking place in San Rafael. 

A Word from Jose: “The process that we do of pulping it to convert it into parchment is very satisfactory because it gives us a better quality and we are left with all the byproducts of the process, which we can use as amendments for our coffee crops and especially in this ecological way we do not pollute and that is why we want to continue selling in Canada and get a fair price for our coffee.”

Volcancito, & Cafe Colis Resistencia.

This is another release (previously Jose's cousin was in Big Sipper, Arturo Rodriguez) with our newest partnership via Semilla with Volcancito and Cafe Colis Resistencia. 

We are happy for our first lots from the Volcancito group out of Casillas in Guatemala. This project and their partners Cafe Colis Resistencia was where I had first learned of Semilla via Drew at Bow's coffee roasters, 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 decaf 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 work with our future coffee importing, 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.

https://www.semilla.ca/projects/3tCy0asqKbocGDuto1EEdX - head here to read more about El Volcancito and the Cafe Colis Resistencia story.

In the cup this coffee is super clean and sweet, with soft pear, almond, and Nova Scotia's Baxter's chocolate milk on the finish.