Just in! Our old friend Guatemala Finca El Injerto (bourbon varietal) has come home to us!  This is the Guatemalan coffee and farm with whom Stumptown established its first Direct Trade relationship, a buying practice that has helped change how the coffee industry does business with coffee producers and has elevated Stumptown to the status of one of the most innovative and conscientious coffee roasters in the country.

But wait! There’s more! Mercedes and Arturo Aguirre Jr., the producers of the Finca El Injerto coffees, entered their pacamara varietal in the most recent Guatemala Cup of Excellence competition and won first prize! This is the most esteemed award given to specialty coffees in Central America and we’re all abuzz about having the opportunity to offer it to you at thump!

When we tasted the Finca El Injerto Cup of Excellence #1 Pacamara, we marveled at its velvety body and were surprised to find hints of fruit and floral notes that you might taste in an Ethiopian coffee. This is a coffee, you just want to hold in your hand and savor and hope for a bottomless cup.

We anticipate that we will carry the Finca El Injerto Bourbon varietal for a few months, but the Cup of Excellence winner #1 Pacamara, which we are selling as whole bean, may only be with us for a short time.

If you have a moment, we encourage you to learn more about how the Cup of Excellence competitions directly benefit coffee farmers at www.cupofexcellence.org.  Also read about how the producers of Finca El Injerto bourbon and pacamara varietals are doing an inspiring job with a diversity of environmentally and socially conscious farming practices. Look at the “Products” and “Responsibility” sections of their website: www.fincaelinjerto.com.  There’s also more information here at thumpology.com about Direct Trade buying practices and Kent & Hazel’s trip to meet Mercedes and Arturo Aguirre Jr., during Stumptown’s 2008 Meet the Producers Series.