FARM PARTNERS
PEOPLE THAT TAKE PRIDE IN COFFEE & COMMUNITY
At Beacon Coffee Roasters, we take pride in our specialty grade small batch coffee. This means partnering with farmers that feel the same way about their products and community as we do about ours. Learn more about each farm below.
FINCA COLOMBA
LOCATION | EL SALVADOR
Finca Colomba has been in the Adolfo family for 3 generations. In 1949, Adolfo McEntee inherited two properties from his family in the Cordillera de Llamatepec, on the slopes of the Santa Ana Volcano. At this time, Don Adolfo began planting Bourbon coffee trees at Finca Colomba and Finca San Francisco. Don Adolfo’s son, José Adolfo MCentee Batlle inherited the farms and continued the legacy before passing down to his son “Fofo”.
The farm permanently employs 80 people and up to 210 people from nearby towns during the picking season. Aware of the need in the surrounding communities, Finca Colombia supports schools in the area, hosts medical conferences to provide accessible healthcare and distributes toys to children during the Christmas season.
Hacienda La Minita
LOCATION | Costa Rica
Hacienda La Minita was founded on the principle that coffee is much more than a commodity and should be enjoyed as luxuriously as an exquisite glass of wine or a gourmet meal.
What still gives them their advantage after all these years is their ownership and hands-on management of coffee farms and mills. They are on the ground every day, nurturing each coffee tree, supporting their employees, cupping all pre-shipments and arrival samples, and striving to get the best coffee possible into the hands of coffee roasters who are seeking the highest quality and standards that La Minita offers.
FAYSEL AND ESKINDER YONIS
LOCATION | ETHIOPIA
Nensebo washing station is owned and operated by the Yonis family and coffees from Faysel Yonis and his brother Eskinder Yonis are always something to look forward to!
Nearly 850 smallholder family farmers surrounding the Werka village deliver freshly picked coffee to Testi’s Nensebo washing station in the Nensebo district, located in the West Arsi zone. Each farmer has an average of 2-5 hectares of certified organic coffee and typically will manage and pick their own coffee and immediately transport it to the Nensebo station.
We are blown away by the cup profile of this coffee! The perfect growing conditions, and attention to detail from the organic cultivation and picking to the processing, all come together to produce a beautifully unique cup. We note lots of berries (particularly strawberry) with a nice citrus acidity and soft, creamy body all wrapped up in a unique flavor of fresh yogurt.
ASOPCE
LOCATION | GUATEMALA
ASOPCE, or the Association of Special Coffee Producers of Huehuetenango, is a small farmers association in Huehuetenango dedicated to providing support and representation to smallholder producing families of Huehuetenango. The 450 member families have small lots mostly ranging from less than a hectare to 5 hectares, spread along the remote mountain communities of Huehue. Each producer family is responsible for wet milling and patio drying their coffee, following strict guidelines for processing. Parchment is stored at the centralized ASOPCE bodega until it's ready for export, at which time separate lots are blended according to cup quality and profile. Individual farming families cultivate Caturra, Bourbon, Pache, Catuai, and San Ramon varieties on their farms, at altitudes ranging from 1400-2000 meters above sea level. Throughout each harvest season, ASOPCE supports member families with coffee education and technical assistance.
COHORSIL
LOCATION | HONDURAS
Cooperativa Cafetalera Siguatepeque Limitada (COHORSIL) supplies elegant and voluptuous coffee grown in the heights of the lush mountains located in the Comayagua and Montecillos mountain ranges, in which the coffee plantations in association with the various species of native plants that provide protective shade, make up a forest. ideal, in which plants and animals find their habitat.
Strictly Hard Bean (SHB) specifies the altitude at which the coffee was grown. A coffee must be grown at 1,200 meters above sea level or higher to be considered SHB. The higher altitude and lower temperatures mean that the coffee fruit matures more slowly, creating a denser bean. EP stands for European Preparation. EP beans are Screen 15+ with a low defect tolerance. Guatemala boasts a variety of growing regions and conditions that produce spectacular coffees. Today, the country is revered as a producer of some of the most flavorful and nuanced cups worldwide.
APROEXPORT
LOCATION | PERU
The blue-grey and foaming Pacific in the west, majestic Andes in the center and the infinite Amazon basin in the east – Peru can be admired for many reasons. Hilly surroundings are covered in lush jungle while rust colored streams of all sizes create steep valleys cutting through. On the eastern slopes of the Andes, the town Rodriguez de Mendoza is found. The community of the Asociación de Productores y Exportadores de Café Rodriguez de Mendoza APROEXPORT) stretches all the way to the southern border of the Alto Mayo Protection Forest. The 356 cooperative members run smallholder-sized farms between 2 and 10 ha. Ever since its foundation in 2013, the cooperative has strived to improve the livelihoods of its members. On a professional basis, experts are invited to consult on organic farm management practices. The cooperative deeply believes that only intact environmental conditions will continuously lead to higher yields and a constant high quality in cup. The area is known for its many forests and streams, a surrounding the farmers are aiming to maintain if not improve. By being Organic and Fairtrade certified, APROEXPORT hopes to reflect these efforts in higher prices also. Due to the Fairtrade certification, a share of the airtrade premium is invested in community activities and infrastructure. This not only supports the coffee farmers but helps to establish strong and independent structures on the rather remote countryside.
GARMINDO
LOCATION | SUMATRA
ASKOGO cooperative has taken on a new name this year. Now the cooperative is called Gayo Arabika Mahkota Indonesia (GARMINDO). But everything else about this coffee continues to be exactly what you have come to expect from the Bener Meriah regency of the Aceh province, a growing region acclaimed among coffee experts for its cup profiles and classic Indoniasian style of coffee cultivation and processing. The cooperative has more than 500 members with farms that average less than 3 acres in size. Producers belong to the Gayonese ethnic group and maintain a traditional village lifestyle. A large percentage of the producers are women who rely on coffee income to support their families. Each producer carefully sorts their harvested cherries before depulping and fermenting overnight with personal micro-mills. Then the coffee is washed and laid out on patios to shed the excess water from the parchment covered beans. Next the coffee takes a detour from the conventional path of processing in other origins, wherein, the coffee parchment is removed while the coffee still has a high moisture content. This wet-hulling process, called Giling Basah in the Indonesian language, leaves the coffee bean exposed while drying on patios to a moisture percentage acceptable for export. This Indonesian processing method gives the bean its unique bluish hue and the hallmark Indonesian profile. With Indonesian coffees, half the battle is overcoming logistical challenges like rugged roads and unpredictable torrents of rain. Garmindo takes on an important role of organizing local warehouses and transportation so farmers can overcome these challenges. Garmindo also collaborates with PT. Sumatera Arabika Gayo (SAG), which operates its own dry-mill in Aceh to swiftly bring the coffee to the international market, ensuring greater earnings for producers.
CELESTIN AND MARIE RUMENERANGABO
LOCATION | RWANDA
"To the people drinking our Coffee, we hope you enjoy this coffee as we do our best to get the best quality possible. We also thank you for supporting our family and our community, because without you paying for a cup of coffee from these beans, we would not be able to sustain our farms. We hope you will continue to enjoy this coffee and regular buy so we can continue to grow our farms, support our community through the livestock and health
insurance programs.”
Translated by Ms. Marie Gorette Mukamurenziw
The history of this coffee starts back in 1973 with a story of Celestin Rumenerangabo, raised by a poor single mum who was displaced after the death of her husband during the 1959 uprising that led to the groups of Hutus to launch attacks on the Tutsis.
At the age of 14, Celestin Rumenerangabo walked for three days from Nyamasheke to the city of Kigali where he worked as a housekeeper for a very loving family. After three years of working and saving, he returned to Nyamasheke to support his single mother with the savings he had earned while working. When he returned home, Mr. Rumenerangabo purchased land and planted his first 380 coffee trees and started trading the coffee locally. As they got started, his mother would take care of the coffee plants and the land while he developed relationships with buyers and local brokers. Mr. Rumenerangabo started buying parchment and cherry from neighbors to sell to these brokers, and in 1983 he was married to a school teacher Marie Goretti. Together with his mother, they continued to see growth and success
between 1978 and 1994. During this time, the family had distributed scales and milling equipment to grower partners, built collection sites, established new farms and, leaning on Marie’s teaching background, started to support schooling for children from coffee growing families.
In 1994 the genocide saw nearly one million Tusis killed. Families were displaced and many fled the country. Many local partners in the coffee business were killed and others fled. Marie and Celestin also fled to Idjwi Island in Lake Kivu (belonging to the Democratic Republic of Congo). In 1998, they returned to Rwanda with their six children to restart the family business from the ground up. The farms and plants were still intact, but many of the partners in the business were gone, they had no cash and Celestin’s mother was in failing health. Still, Mr.
Rumenerangabo’s reputation within the community gave him the support he needed to rebuild and within 2 years he was trading nearly 30 tonnes of parchment coffee!
The struggle was not over as multinational companies began to move in and acquire washing
stations in the early 2000’s. In 2006 the family built their first washing station which was forced to be sold just 6 years later due to the difficulty competing with larger, better financed companies. The loss of the washing station was a big blow, but the family got together to revive the legacy of social responsibility that had been built for decades. The sons of Mr. Rumenerangabo were able to open 2 new washing stations in 2014, Gasharu and Muhororo, which began exporting in 2019.
The primary goal of Muhororo is to deliver extremely high quality coffee to your roastery
while investing in the local community and social development projects. By providing work at the washing station, cash advances on coffee, covering education costs, healthcare costs and even contributing to farmers' weddings, the Muhororo station is constantly giving back to their community. The next goal is to construct a daycare facility at the Muhororo station to provide a safe place for children while their parents are occupied with demanding harvest and processing work. The space will also provide basic healthcare services and education. There is also a plan to further economic development through livestock. By purchasing and
donating pigs, the animals can yield two piglets each year to be redistributed in the community. In addition to social and economic programs, Muhororo Coffee gives 4,000 new coffee trees to local growers each year and facilitates training on sustainable and environmentally friendly farming in coordination with the Rwanda National Agricultural Export Development Board. These training include important topics such as land conservation and erosion prevention.
