Coffee is in my Roots
I never drank coffee, never enjoyed it. I’m too hyper as it is — so a morning jolt via a cup of joe would probably drive my body into overload. My parents and siblings don’t drink coffee, either. We are not a coffee family — however, deep in our roots we are, we always have been.
Coffee means many things to the Mendoza family from Danli, Honduras. My family has exported coffee all over the world for more than 30 years. It is what my grandparents and uncles have done for generations. It’s deeply rooted in our core.
It is also what brings us together. My dad and his siblings in the pursuit of their careers did not settle in Danli; they chose different cities in Honduras and the US. However, Christmas and large celebrations (Grandma’s birthday) were always in Danli and thus tied to our coffee roots.
- As cousins, we used to play hide and seek around the endless sacks of coffee beans. It is in these coffee mills, processing plants, and grounds we had our first childhood memories as “primos.”
The coffee trade of my past generations has allowed me to chase my dreams all over the world. So when Tomas came to me with a business venture around coffee (more on that later), I said Yes. I saw Tomas’s ambition and wanted to be a part of it. I also selfishly wanted to learn more about this simple bean (not so simple, more on this later) that has given me so much.
So why choose this as a passion project? I want to learn about coffee; I want to share the story going from novice to pro, and I hope to learn a little bit about myself along the way. So I’m telling you (the reader) to join us because:
- Comedy. I am going all in, and there’s bound to be some hilarious moments (remember the part where I mentioned I don’t drink coffee?)
- There will be Learning ( https://medium.com/ourcoffeejourney/the-starter-pack-is-not-that-obvious-960d5b9c76df )
- and maybe some Self-realization.
Next post, I dive into the deep end and go to a coffee cupping (I did not know what this was either).
