Project Red: What is it? Why you should care about it!
This is an incredible story of right place, right time, and right friends for the What’s Brewing? crew. The place is El Salvador, the timeline is May to September, and the friends are Alejandro and his family at High Peak Coffee, as well as Kara Wilson Garcia and her friends at Project Red.
For those of you who keep a close eye on our Instagram you may remember seeing photos of Sami and Brendon galavanting through El Salvador to visit Alejandro’s family farm and mill. However, it wasn’t entirely about the coffee, back in May we learned about the non-profit organization Project Red and their mission to provide counseling, therapy and a safe environment for vulnerable children and their families in El Salvador. Rachel Halvaksz of Project Red had reached out to us to see if we could assist in donating some El Salvadorian coffee for their annual fundraiser hosted in San Antonio and this got our gears turning. We looped Alejandro in, and asked if he and his family would be willing to donate coffee to help us fulfill the needs of the fundraiser and just like that the hands of High Peak Coffee, Project Red and What’s Brewing were all interlocked.
What’s Brewing is proud of our partnerships with High Peak Coffee and Project Red, coffee is important to us but it's the people behind the coffee that mean the world to us. When we go on these trips to El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua, we go under the pretense of business but we leave deeply impacted by the incredible families on these coffee farms. On social media it appears these families are situated on farms in jungle paradises, but we must acknowledge that these families, in reality, are in areas facing economic hardship, sometimes violence and lack of resources. Despite it all Sami can tell you from experience that the coffee growing community has always welcomed him with open arms, a willingness to share knowledge, and an infallible smile. Their hard work and struggles are too often lost in the cafe scene and it's our duty as coffee roasters, baristas, and casual enjoyers to take a moment to realize the toil and hardship that follows each bean to your cup.
THIS WEEK’S
TOP STORIES
You love it. We love it. What is it? New Coffee!!!
Well it seems to be that time. We traveled through the jungle, climbed mountains, and we survived the summer…barely. But through it all, we stood tall and out of it we procured 2 new coffee’s that even Sinatra would get a kick out of. We are happy to finally be able to present y’all with our new Colombia Huila Anaerobic Gesha and our Guatemala Jalapa Natural Process Pacamara. Seeing as I’m one hour removed from cupping both of these coffees I’m certain you will love the Colombia for its notes of green grape, hard candy and watermelon. Yes, rub your eyes and read that again, watermelon! However, not to be outdone, or outsized, our Guatemala Jalapa and its distinctively large beans have quite a large personality on the cupping table. After much deliberation and discussion we found fig, chocolate and sweet pear were the prominent notes of this cup. Both of these coffee’s are fantastic as a pour over and provide some crisp and refreshing new flavors to our bean bar!
What’s Brewing? In Peru!
Next month What’s Brewing is putting on its hiking boots and taking on the Andes Mountains for the Peruvian Cup of Excellence! For those who don't know what the Cup of Excellence (COE) is, it is a competition that works to showcase coffee grown by farmers local to the host country. Since 2002, What’s Brewing has supported COE’s mission in Brazil, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador and now Peru! Some of the best cuppers in the world (yes, that includes Sami) will be traveling to Lima, Peru at the end of October to cup, grade, value and celebrate all of the hard work these farmers put in to produce the incredible coffee we love and appreciate.
Since its inception in 1999, the COE competition has provided tons of value to smallholder coffee farmers who previously had little education in recognizing the quality and value of their coffee and to give them a space to be discovered by small-scale and large-scale roasting operations around the world. As What’s Brewing continues to strive to add more direct-sourced coffee to our selection, attending competitions such as these gives us an opportunity to share with you the stories, traditions, hard work, and most importantly the coffee that these wonderful farmers have provided us over generations of coffee growing.
Shoot us an email with questions at info@sacoffeeroasters.com
What’s Brewing?
138 W. Rhapsody Dr, San Antonio, Texas 78216
