I took a two week trip to El Salvador and Guatemala. Boot Consulting put together an El Salvador adventure for women in coffee, including mostly roasters, a few consultants and myself, it was an honor to be part of the trip. What a great opportunity to meet many industry professionals from both ends of the spectrum, from producers to roasters.
We visited Cup of Excellence Fincas, including Las Mercedes,(COE Berlin 2006),  where I had the opportunity to gear up and learn how to pick only the ripest cherries. We also visited Plantias de San Isidro, where we learned about passion for social responsibility. It was wonderful to see the positive impact one person can have on so many people's lives and the environment. We were fortunate enough to visit a few local tostadoras, where baristas and roasters were able to share concerns, questions and help each other with stories from personal experience, from fires to espresso blending. What a week!
I continued to Guatemala on day six. We started at beautiful Finca Santa Isabel. The family took me in and gave me a tour of the entire property, which includes a large nature reserve, good thing I had on my hiking boots! Santa Isabel really embraces the idea of high quality organic coffee, from their state-of-the-art machines to their drying patios and hand-picked cherries. I cupped the new crop and the cup was exquisite, but after my tour I expected nothing less.
From there I continued to Lake Atitlan, where I was lucky enough to cross the lake during the "Norte." If any of you have been there for that you probably understand how wet the inside of the boat was, the wind was furious! It was absolutely breathtaking. I was able to visit two different Cooperatives in San Juan de la Laguna and San Pedro. We are working with the Coffees of the Lake to plant more trees in the area to promote biodiversity and shade. It was so wonderful to meet the producers and learn more about opportunities for growth in the area.
After only a few days in Panajachel I continued to Quiche, where I spent a day with Cooperative Ixil de Avelina. The views were amazing and the people were so friendly. Another day I was thankful for my hiking boots, we climbed around the mountains full of small coffee plots, meeting the many small producers that create the Cooperative. The coffee trees were so bright and full, surrounded by organic citrus and shade trees. After lunch in a local family's home, we hiked up another mountain to see the waterfall of Santa Avelina. Afterwards, I was also given a wonderful scarf as a gift by the women of the Cooperative, they spent 20 days making it for me! I look forward to sharing the story of the people I met.
My last day was spent in Xela, where I had the opportunity to meet with a few different groups of exporters and producers. We cupped a few different coffees from HueHuetenango and hope to bring some of them into the US this year!
It was truly an amazing trip...

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