Ethically Sourced Coffee From Guatemala Generates Opportunities for Small-Scale Coffee Producers
At De La Gente, we promote ethically sourced coffee by practicing a relationship-based trade model that is driven by forging authentic connections and relationships between coffee producers and green coffee customers, who are also committed to fairly compensating small-scale coffee producers.
Our community of green coffee buyers spans throughout the United States, all of which prioritize directly sourcing, roasting, and serving ethically sourced coffee.
What is Ethically Sourced Coffee? How Do I know If My Coffee is Ethically Sourced?
In short, ethically sourced coffee means that coffee beans are purchased while prioritizing the people and the planet. On behalf of De La Gente’s focus with sourcing practice, coffee beans are bought at a fair price from small-scale coffee farms that uphold safe working conditions and sustainable farming practices. In each area of our work, we also demonstrate transparency, showcasing directly where in Guatemala coffee beans come from and who was involved in growing them.
To know if your coffee beans are ethically sourced, it takes a few extra steps, but the process is fairly simple. On the labels of roasted coffee bags or purchasing websites, look for specific farm or cooperative names and clear price breakdowns. Ethical coffee companies or roasters typically showcase the exact origins of the coffee compared to a broad phrase, such as “coffee sourced from Central America.” Additionally, companies or brands that source ethical coffee generally illustrate areas of their work and actual prices the coffee producers receive for their product.
How Relationship-Based Trade Generates Opportunity for Guatemalan Coffee Producers
While the international coffee market often under-values the individuals involved in growing and processing coffee, De La Gente, along with our green coffee community, chooses to rise above the industry. In doing so together, we prioritize ethically sourced coffee centered on building relationships. Every member of the supply chain, whether the customer or the producer, is seen as having a valuable position rather than mere numbers.
Year after year, De La Gente negotiates contracts between our eight partner cooperatives and buyers, all of which paid well above coffee market standards. Details of these transactions can be found in our Impact Report.
Because of the relationships that we have built between green coffee customers, roasted coffee buyers, and the coffee-growing communities in Guatemala from which they’re purchasing from, negotiations mean much more than agreeing on a number. Negotiations become meaningful conversations about fairness, dignity, and prosperity for Guatemalan coffee-growing families and communities. We’re incredibly thankful for the impacts created by the De La Gente coffee community and the ways in which small-scale coffee producers are uplifted and empowered through each purchase.
De La Gente’s Impact
From left to right, Benito and Rigoberto
Rigoberto, a longtime leader and coffee expert at Santa Anita Cooperative says, “Having a partnership with De La Gente brings growth and entirely new realms of opportunities to meet our needs and overcome obstacles that hinder us from reaching our goals. With De La Gente, we have discovered avenues [and opportunities] like market access to infrastructure to agriculture…[and] we’ve obtained the tools and built the infrastructure that we need.”
Brenda
An example of the generational impact of coffee growing in Guatemala can be exemplified through Brenda, who has been a member of Ijat’z Cooperative for 12 years and now serves on their Board of Directors. “I have raised my children through coffee,” says Brenda, emphasizing that she did this as a single mother of three daughters. “For example, I have a daughter who is studying in the university, and she is about to graduate with a degree in early childhood education! My goal was always to provide for my children.”
Here Is What the DLG Green Coffee Community Has to Say About Us:
“I wholeheartedly embrace and appreciate DLG’s mission and their dedication to coffee growers and their betterment. [It] is equally as unique that they have such incredibly passionate young people who come from coffee backgrounds. You lose that kind of connection when working with larger importers, and building connections is something that is important for me and what I want Café Cultura to be.”
—Katherine Gonzalez |Café Cultura
“For me, it's important to meet the producers in order to make the industry one that values people. That's why I decided to travel to Guatemala to personally meet with various producers, interact with them, and understand their work and professionalism... In Canada, we drink coffee but we know very little about the work that goes into a cup of coffee. I want to be that link [between producers and consumers].”
— Daniel Bernard |Les Cafés du Paysan
Ultimately, for us at De La Gente, coffee involves prioritizing the future of all those we work with — whether small-scale producers in Guatemala, our green coffee buyers, roasted coffee customers, visitors, or our internal team. Ethical coffee trade isn’t defined by a single transaction, but is something that is built over time through relationships, trust, and a shared commitment. Ethically sourced coffee is about recognizing that with each roasted coffee purchase, earnings are part of something more. Building strong relationships with each member of the value chain opens doors to collaborative endeavors, greater access to markets, and opportunities for small-scale producers to re-invest in their livelihoods.
We celebrate these opportunities for individuals and cooperatives alike, and look to the horizon with even bigger ideas of expanding our impact. We extend our gratitude to each of our supporters for choosing to purchase ethically sourced coffee directly from small-scale Guatemalan producers.