Luis Roldan - Yellow Catuai

Impressions: yellow plum, golden delicious, cantaloupe, marzipan
Roast degree: light (2/5)
Country: Guatemala
Region: Casillas, Santa Rosa
Farm: El Durazno
Farmer: Luis Roldan
Variety: Yellow Catuai
Process: Washed
Partner Importer: Semilla

The coffees we buy from Luis holds a special place for us. It is the first coffee we bought from Semilla - 5 years ago already! - to support the important work they are doing by bringing peripheral smallholder farmers to the forefront.

Even though Semilla's work is important in all the origins they work in, the adversity faced by these farmers in Guatemala stands out, and we had to get behind their efforts to break the coffee paradigm keeping millions in poverty.

This group of Indigenous Xinka people are interested in developing an international market for their coffee, and therefore finally receiving fair prices for their work.

Five harvests ago, Luis had never sold coffee on the international market. He had 14 bags ready for export, and we took them all. And these 14 bags from one producer lead to us now buying around 100 bags yearly from smallholders in the region, making these lots the most impactful on our menu.

Coffee can be a force for good, and buying as much as possible from initiative combatting the extractive nature of coffee is essential.

The group is also actively involved in resistance against the illegal exploitation of a silver mine by Vancouver-based Pan-American Silver. This Canadian company wants to go ahead and exploit the mine on Indigenous land despite being in contravention of the United Nations Declarations of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

We are proud to join Semilla in their efforts to stand on the side of Indigenous sovereignty and landing our support for this producing group. Not only does Semilla buy the coffees well above market prices, they also lend their voices as Canadians against this illegal extractive project. Buying this coffee has an impact well beyond taste or the raw material itself.

About Luis:
Luis, an agricultural engineer by trade and a university teacher who ran for mayor in Casillas, is an active member of the Mataquescuintla resistance group.

In recent years, he was instrumental in using his contacts with local NGOs to acquire an eco-pulper, which allows producers to not only process their coffee to parchment in their own beneficios, but also to do so with a minimal amount of water, given that the whole region has been drought-stricken for years and water is a precious commodity.

Luis also started a local roasting brand to help generate revenues for families in the region.

We also have a second lot from Luis available: a Red Catuai. And if you prefer darker coffees, you can support the same group also growing coffee with Luis by trying our staple and best seller, the El Volcancito.