When I first had the idea to bring Dominican coffee to the US, I did my homework. The island is home to some of the world’s best coffee plantations, so there were choices, but I wanted to get it right. I wanted a farm in the north of the country- where I’m from- and I needed a company that was already prepared to export and had done their paperwork. Finally, I got in touch with the Belarminio Ramirez farm, and the process began. It was a little scary, but I had hopes of creating a great and long relationship. We reviewed the paperwork, and placed our first order, a little fearful of all of the things that could go...
It has been a year. One year, since we started this journey, and every day brings new challenges, new opportunities, and new joy. When we first started our Hato Viejo project, we knew the first thing we needed to do was introduce ourselves to the wider world, and the best way we could see to do that was with free coffee. We opened our online store with a three-day promotion: 6 ounces of our coffee, any roast, ground or whole bean, for free. Really, actually free- we didn’t ask for a credit card number for future orders- we just wanted people to try it and let us know what they thought. For those three days I worked harder and faster...
This month's blog is a bit different in recognition of a big step I took last month- to leave Elixir and dedicate myself 100% to Hato Viejo. For those not in the Upper Valley. Elixir is a fantastic upscale restaurant in downtown White River Junction, Vermont owned by Skip and Jane. I hope you enjoy!
This week was the last farmers market for the season. The markets give us the opportunity to sell our products directly into the community. For the vendors, this is our connection with the people and community. The end of the season is the end of production for most and begins the process of planning for the following year. I remembered growing up my father would have tobacco, fruit, and vegetables ready to sell at harvest. He would have to wait for the distributors to set a price, then he would negotiate the sale. The distributors would try and negotiate the price down, leaving the farmers with little to no profit and some years with debt. When I moved to the...
Every day, I get morecalls, more emails, more interest. People who want to be involved, people excited by whatwe’re doing. And my favorite: the people that come up to me to say “I bought your coffee, Itried it, and I loved it!”
