WHITEFISH – Scott Brant and Montana Coffee Traders are taking the bumper-sticker slogan “Who’s Your Farmer?” quite literally.
The local coffee roasters recently welcomed the manager of a cooperative in Guatemala to their roasting facility off U.S. Highway 93 to see what becomes of his country’s top export and how a better partnership can be sowed.
Arcadio Galindo, the president of the Chajulense Coffee Cooperative in Chajul, Quiche, Guatemala, traveled to Whitefish for the first time last week and spent six days with Brant at the Montana Coffee Traders’ Grange Hall. Galindo went through a number of cupping evaluations — a process of smelling and tasting a variety of coffees — and exchanged ideas with Brant about how his farmers could improve the specialty beans being grown and shipped to the Flathead Valley.
“My trip here is basically spanning the gap between the producers, the farmers and the consumers,” Galindo said through a Spanish translator, Kalispell resident Shiloh Ramsay.
Brant, who has been the main coffee buyer and a roaster at Montana Coffee Traders since the company started in 1981, has traveled the world in search of specialty roasts. On a trip to Guatemala, Galindo inquired about the coffee market in the U.S. and how Montana Coffee Traders operated, and Brant jumped at the opportunity to invite him up north.
“I’m looking more for developing a relationship directly with the farmers so I know who’s growing our coffee and they know who’s roasting it,” Brant said. “I want it to be more of a partnership than a commodity sale.”
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Katie Carlson leans down to smell the aroma of a sample of coffee during a cupping Grange Hall behind Montana Coffee Traders roasting facility on U.S. Highway 93. |
Guatemala relies heavily on the United States as its main coffee customer, exporting 49 percent of its specialty roasts to the country.
“It’s extremely important for his co-op because the sale of the coffee is the only source of income for (me) and the other farmers in (my) cooperative,” Galindo said.
Galindo told Brant he wanted to learn more about coffee and what roasters are looking for when they choose a certain bean, so Brant gave him an extensive tour of the world’s roasts.
Last week, Galindo circled a table full of cups of different grounds, first smelling the dried roasts and writing down descriptions of aroma. Then Alison Chopp, one of the roasters at Montana Coffee Traders, poured hot water over the grounds and Galindo returned to each for another smell. The final step was a slurp of each, where the entire sensation of coffee was experienced.
At the end, Galindo chose his favorite cup with a bright smile that needed no translation.
“This is an exchange of knowledge on many different levels for him and for us,” Brant said afterward.
Brant said his wife Barb first came up with the slogan “Who’s Your Farmer?” years ago with the goal of personalizing the relationship between product and consumer. Today, Brant continues to live by that slogan when cultivating relationships like the one with Galindo.
“I’m willing to pay a higher price for coffee, not only if the quality is there but if there’s a connection with the growers,” he said.
“Coffee is more than a drink. It’s grown on a farm. It’s picked by a farmer. It’s handled very carefully. It goes through a tremendous chain to get to us. It’s a humbling experience to visit these places and see the people who are the ones picking the beans and processing it. It kind of puts a face to the coffee in my mind.”