Eddy and David Solano, fourth-generation coffee farmers on their family’s Finca Concepción Buena Vista in San Martín Jilotepeque, Chimaltenango, Guatemala.

Excellent Coffee is about Great relationships.

Great relationships throughout the supply chain are the foundation 8th & Roast is built on. Relationships with coffee producers and importers, and with our amazing wholesale coffee partners and customers, are the reason why we are able to do what we do.

Today we’re highlighting one of the relationships we’re proudest of!

Our partners and friends at Finca Concepción Buena Vista in San Martin Jilotepeque, Guatemala produce amazing coffees that we’ve been proud to share with our customers since late last year, and we’re excited to bring in even more of their delicious coffee for 2022.

Situated at 5700 feet above sea level, Concepción Buena Vista is home to a unique microclimate.

Guatemalan Coffee Is Known For Excellence

Guatemala is known the world round for its fine coffees, and there’s no shortage of farms and producers that we could work with to share them with you. For several years, we’ve proudly featured excellent coffees from farms across Guatemala. Along the way, we have searched for ways to buy coffee in a more transparent and direct way.

This “relationship coffee” from our friends at Finca Concepción Buena Vista helped set the tone for this model for 8th & Roast going forward, and we’re excited to tell you more about it!

A Yellow Bourbon varietal grows at Finca Concepcion Buena Vista. You can buy this coffee here.

Finding The best guatemalan coffee Beans

San Martin Jilotepeque is a small community in the Guatemalan state of Chimaltenango, about 2 hours from the old colonial city of Antigua. Although it may be a lesser-known growing area, the coffees from Concepción Buena Vista benefit from a unique microclimate and topography that produces amazing sweetness and floral notes, with a good dose of the chocolatiness that Guatemalan coffees are known for.

Washed process coffees drying on patios at Concepcion Buena Vista.

Working directly with Family owned coffee farms

Finca Concepcion Buena Vista has been in the Solano family for more than 150 years. Fourth-generation coffee farmers David and his brother Eddy have become more and more involved in the family business over the last several years, learning everything they could from their father Don Bernardo, and working to add capacity and implement new processing methods to create even more interesting and delicious coffees.

The Solano family has made a large investment in their processing capabilities this year with the construction of their new on-site wet mill, which will be operational for the 2022–2023 harvest season.

Guatemalan Coffee Farmers THAT Support Their Community

In addition to improving the quality of the coffees produced at the farm each year, huge investments have been made in the surrounding community — many of whose members work seasonally or year-round at the farm.

Community improvement projects have included providing health care access on the farm to seasonal and full-time workers, housing, and an elementary school — all located within the farm’s boundaries.

Natural and honey-process coffees dry in the the farm’s greenhouse. The raised beds of coffees

How 8th and Roast Ended Up In Guatemala

Our first samples from the farm came almost by accident on a trip to Guatemala right before Covid-19 locked down the world. Our green coffee buyer visited David at their family’s coffee shop in Guatemala City, and brought back small samples of two lots of coffee to sample roast. After we tried them, we knew we had to find a way to work with the Solano family in the future.

8&R’s green coffee buyer Max chats with Eddy and David during a trip in February of 2022.

That opportunity came last year when we secured a large amount of their Yellow Bourbon varietal that we currently sell and continued this year — after visiting the farm in February 2022 — we doubled our commitment and will be bringing in in the Yellow Bourbon washed process, and two other really special coffees that will be released later this year.

Ground samples ready for cupping at the farm in February 2022.

For a small, local coffee company, sourcing coffees directly from producers can be difficult, if not out of the question entirely. It’s often prohibitively expensive, and most small companies source their coffee exclusively through large importers.

David preparing samples of the 2022 harvest for cupping at the farm.

Sourced Globally Roasted Locally

For the coffee from Finca Concepcion Buena Vista, we’re very happy to have been able to work directly with David and his family on pricing for these coffees, and with our friend Joel from Co-Trade Imports in Knoxville to import the green coffee to our roastery in Nashville. To us, this is what “relationship coffee” is all about… with global relationships in place, and at the same time, a local roastery. From their family to ours, and from our family to yours.

To buy coffee from the Solano family’s Guatemala coffee farm, click here. If you’re a hotel, restaurant, coffee shop, recording studio, office, or any kind of business that offers coffee to your guests, check out our wholesale program by filling out the form for Wholesale Coffee Beans to get started.

A Trip to a Guatemalan Coffee Farm