Finca Vista Hermosa

Today, with much anticipation, our sample order from Finca Vista Hermosa, a Guatemalan coffee farm, arrived.

I've seen a lot of green coffee, relatively speaking. While it is exciting, after awhile green coffee looks, pretty much, like green coffee. But this was different (and it wasn't just because it was in a burlap bag, either). This coffee has a face. In his excellent article on CoffeeGeek.com, Mark Prince tells the tragic story of farm manager Carlos Martin and his son Edwin. But that isn't all.

In our industrial society, for all its benefits, we often miss that the things we enjoy, the things we live off of, are made by someone--especially "raw" agricultural products. This easily leads to a dismissibility, a disposibility. When the human face behind the product becomes clear, though, the reaction must change. All of the sudden, the product isn't something that we deserve, but a gift that we must make sure we are worthy of. Am I worthy of FVH coffees? No, but they make me want to be more worthy and do justice to the people and land behind these fantastic beans.