A Fine, Fine Brew

Freshly back from visiting our friends at Finca Chamtaca in Guatemala to learn how they are combating La Roya, we are proud to bring to cups and lips across America our Estate Reserve Single-Origin Coffee featuring the farm's coffee.  It's ready to be enjoyed in the context of your American Life!

After sampling the farm's coffee for almost three years, our current roast blows us away.  The fine, fine brew is void of bitterness--it's a happy brew with subtle chocolate flavors, flowery overtones, and a sweetness that leaves one's mouth feeling in awe.  As you indulge in the gift that is 100% Strictly Hard Bean Arabica Coffee from Finca Chamtaca, you won't want to reach for the creamer, just more Finca Chamtaca coffee!

Prepare to Get Connected to Your Coffee Farmer

I’ve had a few people ask, “Why are you trying to pre-sell your coffee before it is roasted?”  It’s a fair question and it deserves a fair answer.

The Immigrant Coffee Company is dedicated to changing the coffee economy.  We want to shake things up. We want to make folks take an honest look at the coffee supply chain and understand how everything links up. We want to emphasize the importance of the coffee farmer, whether it’s a farmer with less than an acre in production or a farmer who has 500 acres in production. We want to get people to think, “Know your coffee farmer” instead of only “Know your roaster.”

Our Estate Reserve Single-Origin Coffee from Finca Chamtacá is being marketed in close coordination with the grower, and the grower needs to know how many pounds of coffee they should direct towards our marketing channel. We’ve already made the step of guaranteeing the purchase of a certain amount of coffee for our marketing channel, but the grower is interested in dedicating more. In order to help the grower make their decision, we chose to launch a pre-sale. When the farmer works with the Immigrant Coffee Company they are a partner, not just some farmer who sells their coffee at their farm gate and is left to receive prices at or below commodity coffee prices.

Even though the Immigrant Coffee Company is dedicated to changing the coffee economy, we know there is a solid truth we can’t sneak around: We can’t change the coffee economy by ourselves—we need the help of consumers. If you’re interested in helping to change the coffee economy, start by pre-ordering our Estate Reserve Single-Origin Coffee from Finca Chamtacá and prepare to get connected to your coffee farmer!

Starting Up

After much careful planning, the Immigrant Coffee Company (ICC) is up and running and has begun marketing its inaugural coffee from Finca Chamtaca.  The Finca Chamtaca coffee is exciting as it fits the mission of the ICC which includes being able to find ways to connect coffee drinkers with growers, as well as bring coffee drinkers back to black coffee.

Some have asked me why ICC is dedicated to bringing people back to black coffee.  There are many answers; however, there are just a couple which are most important to our company.  One reason being health: millions of coffee drinkers each day visit their local coffee house and get a coffee mixture (myself included on occasion) that at times is filled with sweeteners, oftentimes fat, and little, if any, protein.  I personally have struggled with weight issues for as long as I can remember and I'm always searching for ways to decrease my calorie intake—being able to drink calorie free coffee while savoring flavor profiles that keep me wanting more is something my cup and I cherish.

When I first began regularly drinking coffee in college, it was done with a concerted effort as coffee didn't taste that good to me.  In fact, I much preferred a good TGFOP tea from Nepal or Super Grade Organic Rooibos Tea from South Africa.  And when I did consume coffee, there was always some half-and-half or flavored non-dairy creamer that went into my coffee as drinking it black was out of the question: it had harsh flavors and left my mouth feeling as if I had smoked a strong cigar for hours.  

Since going to college and growing older, I've noted that whenever I return home my dad is still creaming up his coffee (though usually with a can of concentrated milk) and on occasion there's a little sugar added as well.  He does this largely to cover the harshness of the coffee he is drinking.  The coffee tamer goes into his cup no matter the type of coffee he has brewed.  I’ve drunk the cheapest store brands to fancy artisan roasted coffees with my dad and 99 percent of the time there’s still a need to tame the harshness of the coffee so as not to feel like we have been out smoking cigars on a three day binge of sorts.

We select our coffee based on the sustainability of coffee production and coffee quality.  Our coffee quality criteria is dominated by a simple question: Does the coffee taste good?  We make this determination of coffee quality with the help of the ICC Coffee Peeps.  The ICC Coffee Peeps are a diverse group of coffee drinkers that help to sample our coffee offerings and provide mainstream opinions.  And to be honest, the first time any ICC Peep sampled Finca Chamtacá coffee, it was prepared with a $10 coffee maker with a second hand carafe.  That preparation technique might sound crazy to anyone who is a trained coffee taster and can detect the 36 or so essential flavors present in coffee.  However, we figured that if the coffee still tastes good preparing it in what some might call one of the worst possible ways, then we've met our mark: we have found a coffee that everyone can brew and enjoy within the context of their American Life. Try our inaugural roast today.

Brew. Drink. Enjoy. Live.
Fine coffee to be enjoyed in the context of American Life.