DRIFT - La Libertad, Guatemala

Milk chocolate. Blackberry. Custard.

This light-medium roasted bean reminds us of rich milk chocolate, sweet & bright blackberries, and has a smooth, almost vanilla custard-like flavour and mouthfeel. 

It comes from a collection of small coffee producers in the western region known as 'the highlands' of Guatemala. In 1969, several small producers in the area of La Libertad banded together to protect themselves from Coyotes, who were unscrupulous coffee buyers exploiting the small producers by purchasing coffee at unfairly low prices. At that time, one kilogram of maize was worth 15 quetzales (around 1.5 GBP per kg), while a kilogram of coffee was worth approximately 35 quetzales (around 3.5 GBP per kg). Coyotes took advantage of the producers' desperation by approaching them during times of food scarcity and exchanging one kilogram of maize for a future kilogram of coffee from the next harvest. This predatory practice forced the small producers to trade away future crops to alleviate their immediate hunger.