Augusto Castillo

The Castillo family has been producing coffee in Huehuetenango, Guatemala for over 100 years. In the last three years, Augusto and his father have taken over the stewardship of that century-long legacy. Their farms, Colomba and Miracerros, are located on steep hillsides at over 5,000 feet of elevation. This altitude, along with Augusto’s skill and care in growing and processing, are creating some of the finest Guatemalan coffees Sweet Bloom has ever been privileged to share.

When asked, Augusto says he loves the opportunity to grow coffee. “I love being able to provide jobs and the income people need to improve their lives. And Huehue is such a beautiful place, and it makes such beautiful coffee.”

Augusto & his father

Augusto clearly loves what he does, but he also acknowledges the challenges of producing great coffee. The low, fluctuating prices for coffee in the commodity market make it difficult for farmers to survive economically. In the last year the commodity price in Guatemala was anywhere from $0.90/lb – $1.38/lb, it is currently (9/21/2023) at $1.58/lb. That’s not nearly enough to cover their costs of production. To make any profit at all, farms must attempt to produce specialty quality coffee, which can be sold for nearly 2-5x the commodity market price. This is no easy task. Growing specialty quality coffee requires focused attention on every detail of the coffee production process. Right now, about 30% of Augusto’s crop reaches that level of quality – and we applaud him for that success as he continually strives for more.

Sweet Bloom enthusiastically partners with producers like Augusto because he grows such beautiful coffee. What we know is that Augusto’s success is also our success. We also know that our success depends on careful and thoughtful producers like Augusto!

We recently asked the Castillos how we could be a better partner in our coffee relationship. Augusto’s answer comes quickly. “One of the biggest challenges for us is cash flow. I have to pay the people who pick our coffee every week during the harvest season. But we do not get paid for that coffee until months after the harvest is over. Do you think you’d be able to pay
some of the price up front, during the harvest?” The answer to that is an easy yes for Sweet Bloom. We know when the Castillos can focus on beautiful coffee, not on cash flow, then we can share beautiful coffee with you. That’s a beautiful partnership.

Welcome to your beautiful cup of coffee.

Transparency Information

1. Spot Purchase

Early in Sweet Bloom’s history, we worked closely (and still do) with some of the best importers in the US to purchase our coffee. These importers have similar values to Sweet Bloom and a genuine care for those they purchase coffee from. Most of these importers hold “Spot” coffee which means they’ve purchased a given amount of coffee from a specific producer or co-op and import it to their warehouses as inventory. Many of our first coffees were purchased from importers as spot coffee. A few coffees, especially from East Africa, are still purchased this way.

2. Contract Purchase

As Sweet Bloom grows, most of our coffee purchases have transitioned away from spot to contracted. Contractual buying, basically means we commit to purchase a given amount of coffee at an agreed upon price, from a specific producer or co-op, before the coffee leaves the country of origin. Contracted coffee is the beginning of what we view as a relationship coffee. These purchases still rely heavily on importers, but there is sustainability built in as we show a level of commitment to a given lot, and the importer can make a more confident purchase from the producer.

3. Repeat Purchase

During Sweet Bloom’s second year as a roastery, we began to purchase lots again, from producers we bought from in our first year. We view a repeat purchase from a given producer or co-op as a significant step towards building an ongoing relationship. The bulk of coffee we purchase now from Central and South America are at a minimum, second time purchases. For example, 50% of our Hometown Blend comes from two growing groups (Timana, and Los Naranjos in Colombia). We rotate seasonal lots from these two groups, and have been doing this for many years. The Timana and Naranjos groups can be confident that we’ll continue to purchase large quantities from them every year. They can rely on our repeat purchases, and we can plan on getting great coffee.

4. Visits

As we’ve stated from the beginning, the heart of Sweet Bloom is to connect, in meaningful ways, the producer with the end consumer. Our dream from the beginning was to invite the producers we do business with to Sweet Bloom, and we’ve had the privilege to host a number of producers over the years. These visits have been a special time for the producer to share their story with our retail and wholesale customers, and to experience their coffee being brewed and sold in some of the best cafes in Denver. These visits have also been deeply meaningful to our staff, and our customers who can now put a face to the name on our bags. Sweet Bloom is also committed to visiting the producers we work with and will be increasing these efforts in the years to come as our team grows.

5. Payment & Ongoing Projects

Ultimately, our intention is to build on our relationships with producers that go beyond visits, in ways that are mutually beneficial. One project that we are proud of and will continue to replicate is pre-paying for our coffee. This allows the producer to have access to funds at a time when there is a large outflow of cash to pay pickers and increased expenses due to processing.

6. Intentional Purchase

Building genuine relationships with producers is hard. With each harvest, changing markets, competition from other buyers etc, the best of intentions can sometimes turn into what feels like failure. It can be messy and disappointing. At times, we’ve let down producers that we work with, and at other times, we’ve been let down. But we’ve also built relationships that are deeply meaningful, mutually rewarding and long lasting, and we will continue to work towards that end!

For us, a relationship that falls into this final category means we've worked together with this producer for many years. We've visited them, they've visited us, and we've built a relationship that goes beyond a financial transaction. We have an understanding of:

1) challenges faced from one year to the next
2) sustainability practices on the farm
3) how the farmer is caring for their staff
4) ways in which we can benefit projects the farmers have implemented on the farm and in the community

We also consider this stage as a stepping stone into the future of how we purchase coffee and build relationship. We are working on a green buying strategy where we set prices directly with producers that far exceed Fair-trade prices and meets our understanding of a living wage for the producer and those working under them.

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Meet the Producer:

Augusto Castillo

Transparency Information