Coffee Origin Trips | Furthering Sustainability in Guatemalan Coffee Communities
By Aliisa Oake
The focus of coffee origin trips is for coffee professionals to be part of an immersive travel experience involving visiting regions where coffee is grown and produced. De La Gente’s origin trips are now called “cultivating relationships,” which seek to connect professionals in the supply chain, so you can learn more about where coffee comes from.
Whether you’re a barista, coffee shop owner, roaster, importer, or other professional in the coffee chain, this is a unique opportunity to explore the journey of coffee from its origin. This trip is particularly beneficial in supporting sustainability and ethical practices in the specialty coffee industry.
Origin Trip Guests
What are Origin Trips?
Origin trips are not just business trips for consumers to make a connection in figuring out where to source the best coffee. They serve as an immersive experience in learning about the bean to cup journey, why coffee beans from different regions have unique flavors, and what makes this stand out when debating which sourcing region is best.
During De La Gente’s origin trips, guests will meet producers and visit farms where they will have a direct experience in learning how coffee plants are cultivated. The farms of our partner cooperatives are located in four of the eight coffee-producing regions of Guatemala: Antigua, Atitlan, Huehuetenango, and San Marcos.
Ija'tz Cooperative Coffee Farm in the Atitlan region
Value of Origin Trips: Visiting and Creating Inclusive Coffee Communities
Coffee origin trips are very valuable in fostering relationships between producers and roaster buyers. De La Gente’s goal of organizing origin trips is to cultivate relationships, which means specialty coffee producers and buyers are given the chance to take necessary steps towards building and maintaining strong connections with each other on a more personal level. This not only adds value to the beans, but also supports essential business functions for both parties.
Many roasters tend to buy coffee without knowing who exactly they are buying from. Visiting farms and interacting with producers will allow you to bridge a gap in business relations and establish a more equitable system. Guests will directly engage with suppliers in face-to-face interactions while openly sharing business plans, establishing specific requirements or needs, and exchanging knowledge. The basis for a positive relationship will be formed. Transparency and accountability issues will be diminished since customers will receive clear information about sourcing, production, sustainability practices, and any other aspects involved in the coffee supply chain.
Coffee Growers of San Miguel Escobar Cooperative Members
Creating inclusive coffee communities further assists understanding and meeting the diverse needs of consumers on a global scale. De La Gente’s goal is to create customer loyalty, as well as generating opportunities for collaboration and learning across cultures. Their initiatives focus on ensuring that farmers receive fair payment, while encouraging direct trade, sustainable practices, and investment in developing local communities. Origin trips encourage increased involvement in coffee growing areas of Guatemala and reinforces relationships among coffee producers, suppliers, and consumers.
In addition to learning and supporting coffee producing communities, attending origin trips are important for promoting local tourism. When importers visit, accommodation and food are needed, which creates alternative business opportunities for locals. Visitors will be exposed to the incredible culture of Guatemala and be able to create a more meaningful and personal connection with a world-class coffee location. This not only improves the visitor’s experience, but also institutes a deeper sense of pride in residents when they see their culture being appreciated by others.
Importance of Origin Trips to Coffee Roasters
Coffee is a globally consumed beverage and many people don’t know about the skills or hard work involved in producing it. Consider the message that you want to portray to your consumers. You as a buyer or roaster will be able to use the knowledge that you learned from your origin trip and help your customers understand the coffee journey. This authentic experience is something that you will be able to carry with you throughout your personal coffee journey. You will be able to share details about what makes Guatemala’s coffee unique and the stories of those who work so hard to cultivate it.
There is a high level of networking that can be generated during origin trips. With this, a mutual trust will also be created not only between you as a buyer and the producer, but also with your coffee community. Your customers will trust that they are drinking coffee that came from a place where sustainability and ethical practices are emphasized, and hopefully they’ll start to love coffee even more.
Coffee Farm in Atitlan Region
Immerse in Guatemala’s World-Class Coffees: What to Expect
It’s important for us that you are able to take advantage of your trip and have redeeming experience in understanding the artisanal and collective processes that occur within a coffee cooperative. We want to make sure you are more than fulfilled through this incredible coffee journey and experience the richness of Guatemala’s culture in your free time. With this, we have created an organized itinerary of what to expect during your coffee origin trip.
Here are some details on what is involved:
Live in a Homestay with a Small Scale Producer
This opportunity will allow you to further connect with the community. You’ll stay with a coffee-producing family, allowing you to gain insight and become part of their way of life for a few days. Immerse yourself in the local culture and practice your Spanish.
Understand Coffee from Bean to Brew
Immersing in the Coffee Community
Starting at the producer’s home, foster a personal connection with the producer as they guide you through their fields. You’ll gain insights on the entire journey of coffee, from bean to brew. Have meaningful conversations with the producers that highlights the importance of coffee growing for their income, environmental sustainability, and community development.
Lesbian Camargo from Shigualos Coffee Cooperative - De-pulping Coffee with an Electric De-pulper
Get Involved in Processing the Beans
Deepen your appreciation for small-scale coffee production while volunteering at processing coffee whether it's the artisanal way by learning techniques of fermenting, washing, drying, and sorting the beans at producers' homes, or on a larger scale at a shared wet processing station. You’ll learn the difference between cooperative models with small-scale (artisanal) and large-scale processing and deepen your appreciation for specialty coffee production.
Coffee cupping at La Suiza Cooperative in San Marcos Region
Cupping session with De La Gente
Have the chance to taste coffees from different regions of Guatemala and processes (wash, honey, and natural) with the coffee producers. You can also provide valuable feedback, which will help them improve the quality of their coffee. After the cupping, enjoy some free time in the colonial city of Antigua.
Visits to Coffee Farms
You will experience visiting coffee-growing regions and see what makes one different from the other in terms of micro-climates, elevations, cup profiles, and more. Let the cooperative members guide you as you hike through the coffee plantations owned by small producers while having meaningful conversations about the importance of coffee growing for their income, environment, sustainability, and community development.
Planning Your Origin Coffee Trip
Taste coffee, visit farms, and have honest conversations about the sustainability of specialty coffee. Visit Guatemala to learn and establish long-term relationships with incredible coffee cooperatives.
We have been organizing origin trips since 2016, and have worked with roasters from areas of the United States and Canada. We currently work with 26 green coffee buyers and have continuously worked towards building international relationships that extend from attending the Specialty Coffee Expo in the U.S. and donating to the Specialty Coffee Transaction Guide.
During the trip, a bilingual member of our staff at De La Gente will be with you in case you need help with translation. We will handle the logistics, scheduling, accommodation, and additional deals so that you can focus on your experience.
Find out more information and book your next trip with De La Gente
A quote from one of our specialty coffee roaster partners after Origin Trip in 2023:
Trystan Lefever on Coffee Farm During his Origin Trip Visit
“It left me wanting to experience more time on the farm, and to feel more connected to the people responsible for the quality and flavor of the product. Roasters transform something, like a chef or a brewer would. But, farmers are responsible for the actual ingredient. The best roaster in the world can’t make magic out of unremarkable beans.
… in coffee you have to create a global community. Kenya, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Colombia, Vietnam - getting to be in contact with people all over the world, that makes the world smaller to us, makes us feel connected to something that expands what our world is, it makes us challenge ourselves and makes us more open and creative.
It just makes us better humans. On top of all that, the global coffee community are some of the friendliest people we have ever encountered.”
- Trystan Lefever, Specialty Coffee Roaster
About the Author
My name is Aliisa Oake, I’m a Marketing and Communications Intern at De La Gente with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and a minor International Business. I’m a coffee lover from New Jersey with a passion for coffee, supporting the industry, along with supporting local communities and sustainable initiatives. I’m excited to work with De La Gente and learn more about Guatemala’s coffee!
