Mario Alarcon

Mario Alarcon’s farm is stunningly beautiful. Volcanoes Fuego and Acatenango set a majestic and somewhat menacing backdrop to the immaculately manicured drying beds which sit just below the farmhouse. Surrounding the drying beds are hillsides full of coffee shrubs nestled amongst a canopy of shade trees.

With all this beauty, it is not hard to imagine Mario’s coffee would be equally beautiful. And it is. Next to the drying patios, Mario has built a special parabolic and climate controlled drying house with raised beds. This drying house is where Mario and his team dry their finest lots, including Mario’s crown jewel, his naturally processed gesha.

Mario’s gesha lots are stunning. The aromatics fresh off the grind often remind us of the sweet smell of bubble gum. The tasting notes range from floral, to tropical to berries and wine. With this profile, it is no surprise that the lot we submitted for the 2020 Good Food Awards was a winning submission.

Apart from Mario’s delicious coffee, he has also started an exporting business with his partner Christian Valdez. We’ve had the privilege of visiting their lab in Guatemala City and have purchased lots from their producer partners including Jose Hernandez in Antigua.

It is an honor to work with people like Mario, and we tip our hats to the hard work and dedication Mario has towards constantly pushing the envelope for better and better coffee quality in Guatemala.

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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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