Cuppa Connections Ep. 25: The Owners of Chica Bean Coffee are Revolutionizing How Coffee is Being Roasted and Sold in Guatemala

Today's episode is about a company that is empowering female coffee producers and revolutionizing how coffee is roasted and sold in Guatemala. 

The company is called Chica Bean, and I'm speaking with partners, Josue Martinez and Abby Grabner. Their new way of doing business has cut out the middle man. They roast their own coffee, and use UPS to transport their coffee all over the world. Chica Bean is showing the world that there is a better way.

This is a new business model for how coffee farmers in other small countries could follow. The best part about it is that the coffee farmers get paid more money.

What a wonderful interview. Listen in to hear to full story. 

We hope you enjoy the show.

Transcript

Portia: 0:00

Hey guys. Welcome to Cuppa Connections. I'm Portia, and we're here coming to you from our virtual cafe, better with a cup of coffee. We are savoring relationships with coffee lovers around the world and sharing their experiences that have been better with a cup of coffee. I have a lovely gentleman named Josue Martinez and Abby Grabner. They're partners with Chica Beans in Guatemala. Okay. We got some Guatemala's here. How are you guys?

Josue: 0:31

We're doing great.

Abby: 0:32

Doing great.

Portia: 0:33

Awesome. The biggest question I have for coffee lovers or people in the industry, did coffee choose you guys or did you choose coffee?

Josue: 0:43

I think coffee choose us.

Abby: 0:45

Oh, 100%. Yeah. Coffee definitely was not on my radar until it was my life.

Portia: 0:53

Well, that's a great segway to. You're business partners of this wonderful company, Chica Beans. Tell us a little bit about yourselves. What's going on down there or over there?

Josue: 1:04

We're working in, in Guatemala with, uh, mostly female producers. And even that, you know, coffee is a family crop. We, we've been working with them like, providing pretty much a bridge between them and a consumer. Most of our clients are in the US. So we are 3,500 miles bridge. We just like processing, working with them, a specialty coffee. Roasting in Guatemala. and you know, like, roasting in origin is out of the norm. We're definitely doing things different. And, uh, we have a great collaboration with UPS. So, we have shipments every week. If everything goes well, we get to the US in four to seven days. That's quick. It is very quick.

Portia: 1:54

How'd you guys establish that that relationship with U P S, is that common in Guatemala?

Josue: 2:00

Not at all. okay. We, Abby and myself, we met working in the flower industry. We were working for a orchid nursery, a greenhouse production, and we were exporting cut flowers, orchid stems from Guatemala to the US, three times a week. Uh, Abby was in charge of logistic by the she, so she had to learn every little trick in order to get this beautiful, delicate flower traveling from Guatemala to the U US with no damage and as fast as possible.

Portia: 2:40

Oh, that's another podcast.

Josue: 2:42

Oh yeah. So, you know, we're working there and we met the right people. When the time came, we just knocked the door. And with Abby, we always said like, if we are good in something is always asking for help when we need it. We knocked the door, we asked for the support. We said, do you think we can like, you know, like scratch that line that says cut flower, and we can just write it over it roasted coffee from Guatemala? And they say yes.

Abby: 3:16

I always like to imagine how this happened, because yeah, it was, we knew the right people. We knew who to talk to about kind of developing this logistical infrastructure that just did not, and realistically continues to not exist on a large scale for, for coffee. Uh, and, and so I like to imagine, like, we were at a, we were at a conference here in Guatemala and some of the regional directors of U P S came to the conference. And I like to imagine Josue putting on his like, charismatic hat, kind of cornering these directors in an elevator, whipping out a bottle of rum, and then by the time the elevator was on the first floor, like the infrastructure was made. I'm pretty, I'm pretty sure that is exactly how it happened.

Josue: 4:05

Very close to reality.

Portia: 4:07

Oh my God, really? That is so smooth. Listen to you. So you guys were working in this orchid farm in Guatemala. So you, you had this relationship, and it developed in Guatemala and then what? You just decide, hey, there's coffee here, we have this type of infrastructure, let's put two and two together, and I think we have something different? Is that what that was about?

Josue: 4:35

To be completely honest, it started before that. My, my mother is, uh, one of our suppliers, and she's a coffee producer.

Portia: 4:44

What's her name?

Josue: 4:45

Mariza.

Portia: 4:46

Okay.

Josue: 4:47

I don't come from generations of coffee producers. You know, like she comes for a very humble background. Her and my dad started this farm. Did well for a couple years, and then the coffee prices just crashed. From there on, they were just losing money year after year. And, uh, unfortunately she got, uh, breast cancer. Uh, she deal with it like a champ. When she recovered and went back. She invited us to dinner at home and she was like, you know, guys, I think I'm gonna stop doing this because it's a lot of work. There's no money. And I like it to do it a lot, I don't see it like you don't live from passion. Some of us do, but, but most of the people don't. Uh, so, and my dad was in the table and he was like, I can like subsidize part of the operation and we can like do this and look for, for ways to produce more or this and that. And I was there with, with Raylene, we were like, uh, recently married. So it was probably 12 years ago this conversation, 12, 13 years ago. I told him like, you know, like, you should like save your money, use it for another things, travel or something because they don't travel. Because we don't have a production problem, we have a market problem. And until we figured out how to sell the product properly, We are gonna be having the same results. Very ignorant of me to have to, to admit that. Like we can export a coffee, like how difficult it can be. And of course the knowledge and all the challenges, but like everything in life you can go through, through them. And, uh, that's how, how, how it started on that conversation, on that table that night. We decided to put a lot of effort on the processing and the selling part. Because the farm farming is a big part of my mom's personality. That's how it started. We didn't want her to lose that part of her after losing a part of her body because of cancer. You know, like. It was enough to deal with, so.

Portia: 7:12

Right, right.

Josue: 7:13

So yeah, that's how, how we started. And then, snowballing, just more ideas and having the right partner in business has been a bless. I think everyone that has a partner of ha had a partner know how difficult it can be, having the wrong one. And I hope Abby feels the same.

Portia: 7:37

Talk to us, Abby, how you feel. You feel the same way? Well wait a minute. What? For sure. Let me, let me ask this of you. So it started with that conversation with your mother and your family. Once you guys talked it out, you had some ideas. So then Abby comes into play. Is that how that works?

Josue: 7:58

A few years later.

Portia: 8:00

Okay. Okay.

Josue: 8:01

Probably like eight or 10 years later.

Portia: 8:05

Wow.

Josue: 8:06

Like eight years later. Yeah. I met my wife in Guatemala. She's from the States. She came to Guatemala as a Peace Corps volunteer. And, uh, I met her in close to where my mom's farm is. Because she was serving in a near area as a Peace Corps volunteer. She was working with a group of coffee producers, but she was not working with the coffee ball chain or anything related to coffee. She was working with a food security program. So she had this group of amazing hard worker woman already. And when she finished her service and Chi Beans started to like, you know, moving forward with idea and building up like the facilities and, you know, putting things together. Uh, she came with a idea of making Chica Bean, not only to help my mother, but to help a group of female coffee producers. We started with that and I would say like one and a half, two years later, Abby, join us.

Portia: 9:07

So, Abby, how do you feel about Chica Beans, and how it's growing and in being unique?

Abby: 9:13

I think it's very exciting. Whenever, uh, Aileen and Josue asked me to join the team, we're sharing dinner. It was another conversation at the table. I came over to their house and we were having dinner, and, Josue had already left the orchid company. And I, I was still there, but I was already looking to change, looking for something different. And, I was just not feeling passionate about it anymore. And, I remember Aileen asked me, I was like, but what are your passions? And I was like, well, they are probably like whale sharks cause we really like whales. Um, mushrooms cuz I'm also very into mycology, and female empowerment. So women empowerment. Yes. And Aileen and Josue looked at each other and like, I think we can help you out with two of those projects. And that's when they, they offered me to come in as a partner with Chica Bean. And it was really exciting because I did spend so much of my professional experiences is based around gender empowerment and providing economic opportunities for those who are marginalized. And so it was just this perfect storm. Again, I never knew anything about coffee until I came to Guatemala. And I was living in a community that was a coffee producing community. So I learned about coffee from the producing perspective. And so I learned also about the value chain and the realities of what it is to be a coffee producer, uh, especially coming from specialty coffee producers who are not paid specialty coffee prices. That money does not trickle down. Whenever I was offered the opportunity, it was, it was a no-brainer. And, and the more I've learned about coffee, the more I've learned about the supply chain and the industry and the colonialist roots that still dictate how the industry works. I truly feel honored to be a, a part of a company that is trying to reverse those tendencies and trying to put the value back in the heart of where it comes from, back in the origin in the countries where it comes from. Uh, and the fact that we're working with women to do that, I just, I feel really honored in all honesty, sometimes way overwhelmed. I don't know how I got into this place. And, it's exciting to see that we are showing that we are proof that the industry does not have to continue the way it's continued for the past 200 years. That it can change in different models, can work in a perspective that puts the value back in the hands of the producers. It's viable, and that's really cool.

Portia: 11:58

I can only imagine you waking up every morning, at both of you, and knowing that you're helping, you're empowering women. Josue, you're pretty much making your mom's dream come true. That's just an empowering story to hear it. So you guys, chica beans, get the beans from the farm, which is down the street from what I read or close to you guys.

Josue: 12:20

Distance is very close.

Abby: 12:23

As the crow flies, it is a hot skip away. Like, three and a half hours away. But I, what is it in kilometers? It's something ridiculous. Like 30 kilometers away or.

Portia: 12:33

So you guys do the roasting. Now and you cut the middle man out. Um, so therefore the ladies or the coffee farmers, they get more money, correct?

Josue: 12:42

Yes. You know, um, if you let me, you know, when you're saying like, we are helping them? You know, like I have a little of conflict with the word help.

Portia: 12:54

Okay.

Josue: 12:55

Because, uh, we are working together. Like we are nothing without them, you know, like, and honestly speaking, like we might deal with like stressful and things that whatever we do, but they're doing the hard of work and this.

Portia: 13:12

Yeah.

Josue: 13:12

And you know, and this is an area, so we always say like we, we work together. They do a lot for Chica Bean, and um, we buy the coffee from them. We are not coffee producers. We don't consider ourselves or Chica Bean coffee producer. Uh, we might be too involved. Like we know details of their lives, too many.

Abby: 13:37

And their productions also like not only their lives, their productions, everything. Everything. That's what,

Portia: 13:43

it's almost like your family, you know, you're a big community. And I think you guys are, um, a blueprint for how communities can thrive. I'm sorry, Josue, go ahead.

Josue: 13:55

So yeah. Yeah. We roast in origin. The way to make this work, it was pretty much having this direct link with the producer and not necessarily final consumers because we have coffee shops, customers, uh, some retail stores and we ship all over the states. It was cutting all the people that had no reason to be in the value chain. Personally, I think it's too long. A normal one has the coffee stops eight times or goes to eight different hands.

Portia: 14:30

What?

Josue: 14:32

Yeah, a normal, like, like Abby was saying, like a high volume colonial way to ship green coffee to your roaster in the states stops like eight times. If not, depending how you purchase your coffee, it can be more. So we said like, okay, which ones we don't need. Pretty much we figured out the whole, the whole value chain. We were able to, with a partnership with u p s and, and even if we need to do higher volume, we can figure it out, uh, you know, by land logistic. And, that was a big solving solution. And we do the processing in Guatemala. We do the exporting from Guatemala, we do the import in the states. We get to, to do the distribution with UPS, and we do all the financial things in the US and in Guatemala too.

Portia: 15:33

Why is it that Guatemala and imagine other countries are just stuck in that old system, the old way of doing things, and here you guys come in and you revolutionize, it's pretty much revolutionizing way how it's done. Why are you guys the only ones? Is it that they don't want change, or what is it?

Josue: 15:50

Um.

Abby: 15:51

Oh, that is a, that is a heavy question.

Portia: 15:57

Talk to me. I'm ready.

Abby: 15:59

Yeah. Ooh, there's a lot, a lot to unpack on that. Um.

Portia: 16:04

Okay.

Abby: 16:05

Number one, again. Yeah. We are dealing with a colonialist infrastructure that I still being run by, basically the same people who are running things whenever colonialism was at its height. In a lot of producing countries, there are no incentives to share or change the ones who are winning continue to win. And, you also do have the logistics. The, the, the fact that ro especially like roasted coffee, you have to have fast logistics. And so that has depended on a certain amount of globalization where air freight is more affordable and, and this can happen. And then also just quite frankly, to privilege, uh, the fact that Aileen is from the United States and that I am from the United States. This fact allows us to have a US bank account, which makes a lot of things possible that are not possible without a US bank account. And then there's also the mindset of you can't roast in origins. Producers, the people who are cultivating the coffee can't roast it. They can't transform it. They don't have that technical skill. They don't have have that ability. Uh, cuz they've never had it in the past. It's always been you get the raw seed out of the producing country in bulk for as cheap as possible. Who cares about the exploitation that was required to create it? We just gotta get it out into the country where the value will be added, as if like creating the seed in the plant doesn't add value or isn't value. But, you can look at it and you see where that price jump is that price jump happens at the roasting stage. And that has always happened outside of a producing country. And so historically, there's not access to education. There's not a, a very, big culture around roasting. there hasn't been access to technology either. And capital, it's takes money. A roaster is expensive. What we did, and Jose, the genius that he is, worked with a local hierro.

Josue: 18:14

Welder.

Abby: 18:14

Iron worker, welder. Yeah. And created, like, built a roaster from scratch. From scratch. She's a Frankenstein, she's a beast. And again, you know, we're working with female producers, you know, as we started to develop Chica Bean more and more's like, well, we're working with female producers, we gotta work with female roasters. And if it's hard enough to find someone who knows how to roast coffee in Guatemala, it was impossible to find a woman who roasted coffee in Guatemala. So.

Portia: 18:43

What'd you do?

Abby: 18:45

Just like we made the roaster, we made the roast master. And now we have two, two female roasters.

Portia: 18:52

So basically you taught them how to roast?

Josue: 18:54

Not us.

Abby: 18:55

As, as Josue said, we are very good at asking for help. And so, well, we might might like that knowledge. There are lots of people who do know how. There's a lot of people who click with our story and click with our mission. Our first, uh, our roastmaster Evelyn was Aileen and Jose's nanny with their first child. And we were able to get her hooked up with, is it 2010 or 2012?

Josue: 19:22

2010.

Abby: 19:25

The 2010 World Cupping Champion was her first mentor. Girl, stop. Yeah. And, and we've been able to get incredible support from roasters around the world who have come down, work with her now with Dumati, our newest roaster. And they've learned from the best, and they know how to dance with, with our Frankenstein.

Portia: 19:50

Hmm. See, that goes to show you that you just have to put your noggin to work. I have a a t-shirt I created called Kill Your Your Pride, solve your Problem. You just have to solve the problem. Don't worry about this ego of being afraid to ask, like you guys are not afraid to ask. It's one of the key ingredients for success.

Josue: 20:09

Yep. And you know, like if, if I can add something, um, when you're coming from a poor community, you are already way back behind then people that had a privilege, like, like I did, uh, even then the parents don't come from a family of money. I was lucky enough to be one of those, you know, 7% of Guatemalans that go to the university and,

Abby: 20:37

And speaking, learn English. You were able to learn English.

Portia: 20:41

Wait a minute, you went to university in Guatemala or in the States?

Josue: 20:45

In guatemala. Ok. Like, I never been in the states. I learned on some in school, of course, but mostly on, you know, being outside of talking to people.

Portia: 20:55

Mm-hmm.

Josue: 20:56

So yeah, you, you're way behind with the money barrier. Then you're way behind with the education barrier. Then you have another barrier is like, uh, political, especially in countries like Guatemala, uh, benefit a lot those colonial industries. Like Abby was saying, like there's a a bloodline of people that did this 200 years ago, and there's some member of their family still doing it. They create this like, oh, you need to have this permit in order to do this and that. And yesterday we're talking with, uh, some specialist about it, and I was saying like, you know, like open the company in the states having permits and this and that was compared to Guatemala was like extremely easy and fast. And and they were like, why do you think it's that? And I was like, I think there are barriers made with a purpose. They are well thought purposes and they sell it. Like, oh, we do this because we want to protect the buyer.

Portia: 22:03

Oh please.

Josue: 22:04

Whatever. From buy buying from someone that is not gonna be good enough, for example. But you know, Guatemala has a law, and we have to go through an institution that was created 62 years ago and they haven't changed a single thing on that law for 62 years. Guatemala doesn't have an e-commerce law. So we cannot do e-commerce directly with the states because there's not transparent guidance. And if you do something, you can be under laundry money.

Portia: 22:41

Ooh.

Josue: 22:42

How do you say that, Abby? Like, uh.

Portia: 22:44

Laundering money?

Abby: 22:46

Yeah.

Josue: 22:47

But the fault of laundering money because it's not legally established.

Abby: 22:51

You can be charged with.

Josue: 22:53

Thank you. Charged. That's the word I was looking for. Mm-hmm.

Abby: 22:56

And actually, even like Visa, PayPal, those entities don't even work here. There's like, oh, this is a mess. We're gonna, we're gonna stay out of here until there's a structure for it.

Portia: 23:09

Wait, wait, wait, wait. So parts of the Guatemala government. It's living in the, the dinosaur age in a sense. And possibly being afraid to change. Okay. But then you guys come along. I'm curious, have you had any pushback? Have you had any negative things happen or people are opposed to your way because it's different? Or are they applauding your, your change?

Josue: 23:34

Now. Not anymore, because we are finally, I mean this is our, we're over our fourth year now, but uh, when we started, it was that constant, uh, opinion of like, oh, it's not gonna work because this person that has so much money try and they couldn't. And this company tried and they had been in coffee for so many years and they couldn't. And this, and I like at the beginning was mostly that nobody pretty much pay attention to us because it was, according to the norm, it was not gonna work. You know, like I have here on my notes talking about this, like how Evelyn learned about roasting, Dumari as well. Uh, of the 11 employees that we have, uh, we are a Chica Beans, only one has experience with coffee. She was a barista for quite a few years. Then everyone learn at Chica Bean, and it just comes to show that we all can do, learn, be if the opportunity is provided. And just like this misjudgment, like Abby was saying, like, oh, producing countries can't roast, and it's, it's not true.

Portia: 24:48

I'm just so happy that you guys are showing people something different, people that's in your community, that there are other ways and because you're inspiring other people collectively, you can break down those walls. The barriers. I know that that wasn't your intent, but that's what you guys are doing.

Josue: 25:07

Since Covid I would say, uh, we are facing another huge problem as a country is migration. People are leaving to north by thousands. Eventually that's, that's gonna hurt. You know, like it's already hurting and just gonna start hurting more. Companies like ours just come to show that they're, they are solutions. They're ways. Like, we made an analysis with, with Abby that, if we would sell green bean coffee exported, like in a normal way, the way the market works, we bring$1 back to the country. By roasting it and doing how we do, we bring back 4.25 times of the value of coffee. So that's how you create jobs, you create development, you make it sustainable. And if you talk with the producers and you're like, what do you want? What do you need? And of course we all want and need a lot of things, but the, main answer, like, in the center, if you. You get all the answers together, it's mm-hmm. Just pay me for my work.

Portia: 26:15

That's all you want. I mean, pay me for what I'm worth, what I do so that I can provide for my family, you know, so we can just live a comfortable life. I mean, it's the same thing for everyone. It's just unfortunate they're handcuffs.

Josue: 26:30

Mm-hmm.

Portia: 26:30

You know, a lot of people in your country are handcuffed. Since you guys are doing things differently. Have you thought about expanding your formula to other people? Have you thought about educating your fellow countrymen?

Josue: 26:46

We don't mind honestly. I don't know if Abby will agree with me by this answer. It's extremely risky. The investment and the amounts of money that you have to like, put in it and hope that it works and that your mistakes, because we all made mistakes, won't hurt you forever and that you are able to like, you know, go through it and gosh, burn out. And like I was saying with, you know, having the right partner, uh, having the right person that it's willing to learn to roast, and having the right person to like helping you with the social media. I don't know if it's God's plan, you know? Mm-hmm. Um, which by the way, we work with a lot of churches, so blessing might be coming from, from all that people that love Chica Bean. It's not easy.

Abby: 27:40

And I think that, yeah, something to add on also, I mean, our model. When we first started Chica Bean, we recognized that we needed to export because we are a specialty coffee. Since we're paying more on average, we're paying our producers 54% above community prices. Because we're paying more, we also need to be charging them. We need to get, and it's specialty coffee. It is, it's a higher quality. It's got higher costs. And unfortunately in Guatemala, the market's not here yet. The culture for specialty coffee, it's growing, but it's not enough to support. So we knew from the beginning we had to export. And so that's been a, a big part of our company. We also have our, our local orders and our domestic sales. And I think realistically, in order to make a change in the industry, Guatemala as a whole, the industry of coffee needs to improve. There needs to be more support for domestic consumption. We need to be more dependent on ourselves and less on outside forces. Um, I think Brazil is an excellent example of this cuz they went from having almost no internal consumption, almost everything was exported to having, I think, is it the second highest consumption in the world? So they're able to support their own producers, and that is bringing, again, power to the origin countries and I think, as Josue says, not everyone needs to be roasting and exporting, but we can still find our own niches. And I think the more that we support this internal industry, this internal market, we grow as a Guatemalan unit. Then we will start seeing more prosperous results within Guatemala.

Portia: 29:31

Right. I love Guatemalan coffee. How do Guatemalans prepare and drink their coffee? You know how you have Turkish coffee and, and it's, it's prepared differently and you have other countries prepare their coffee different.

Josue: 29:46

Well, I'm gonna tell you how I, I was raised.

Portia: 29:49

Okay.

Josue: 29:50

Being the son of a producer. We did not drink our coffee. It was cherry in the cherry form. We were not processing the coffee. Which is a big chunk of the country. So I was drinking percolator coffee sometimes, but also instant coffee. And I, I would say good chunk of the society drinks instant coffee here in country, unfortunately.

Portia: 30:22

Why is that?

Abby: 30:23

You make more money selling it than drinking it.

Josue: 30:26

Marketing is a beauty of things that are not necessarily good and put in your mindset that they are amazing.

Portia: 30:33

What kind of beans do you, you sell?

Josue: 30:36

We work with, uh, strictly hard beans only for Chica Bean. We work with the treat process, wash, honey, naturals. With the wash coffee, we roast them as a medium roast, dark roast, and we have a espresso roast. Okay. The honey and natural, we only do medium roast because they are harder to produce and it's a truly shame to do dark or extra dark roast on those.

Abby: 31:08

I think what's really great. We work in a, a part of Guatemala or our producers live in a part of Guatemala that is looked over. It's forgotten. It gets no international aid, it gets no domestic aid, but it produces incredible coffee. So even, uh, our, our ladies are in a dep, it's called Jalapa, is the department name, uh, which is kinda like a state. And, people will buy Jalapin coffee, and then call it Antigua cuz like, Antigua is like that sexier region. Everyone's heard of it. But, it's incredible quality. And it is known because, I mean, Guatemala is the size of Kentucky. It's a small place. Okay. We got all, but I mean there's what, like 200 microclimates?

Josue: 31:50

Yeah.

Abby: 31:51

It's insane. Geez. So you have all these different microclimates all over the place. And, every microclimate has its own characteristics. If you go to the north of Guatemala, there's Weiwei Tenango, and Weiwei coffee is almost like drinking a Kenyan. It is bright and fruity and you've got some acidity. It's lovely. Our Halapan coffee is the characteristic of it is that it's super balanced. It is super chocolatey and it is sweet. So even our, our medium roast, you're gonna find that chocolate in every coffee that we have. Even our lighter roasts. And then, you know, if you really like those like kind of dark, chocolatey calib flavors, then you add on a darker roast onto that already chocolatey coffee, and you get that. We are so lucky to, to work in the place that we work. And it's, it's by chance.

Portia: 32:51

Start with your mom, your parents. But, um, speaking about that, hey, that's a good segue into the question of what does your mom think of the business now, Josue. I mean, she started it. She, this is her passion. She loved to, to be amongst the beans, you know, the cherries and then had cancer and things changed. It was challenging. And now things are different. How is she, what does she say about this business?

Josue: 33:21

You know, like, now she's even taking this farther the farm, uh, because of inflation, the cost of, of goods and everything to keep the farm going. She was like, what do, what, what should, should I do? Like, what, what path can we take in order to like, cause she learned that dependence is bad, you know? Mm-hmm. If you depend on, you know, way or someone Mm. Is you need to find independence. And that's a, that's in general. So she was like, what can I do to keep the farm going, producing really good coffee and decreasing some of my costs. So since last year we've been digging it into regenerative agriculture and, uh.

Portia: 34:12

What is that?

Josue: 34:12

Well, it's, it's pretty much taken as a fact that the soil is not only for anchor of the plant, soil is a system that it's alive and as a, a live system, more life it has, the better it's gonna be, the richer the soil is with not fertilizer, but with microorganisms, the plant is gonna be happier, healthier, better fed, and you can sustainable, decrease your cost of production. Yeah. And, cutting the dependence on these industries that are not necessarily looking for the well of their customers. Mm-hmm.

Portia: 34:58

The better quality of the soil produces, um, it's less stress on the plant. It provides the plant with a way to be disease free. Correct?

Josue: 35:08

Correct. Imagine this, like, um, a lot of, especially small, small horror families or farmers. They've been applying fertilizers every year more and more and more, and they create this vicious cycle of decreasing the pH in the soil. So when you decrease the pH, which is the acidity in the soil, a lot of nutrients become unavailable for the plant. Uh, in order to pass that to a human, imagine I'm like, start like sewing your mouth and we get to a point that only like 20% of your mouth has, you know, a hole to get food through and you have to eat, uh, slice of watermelon. It's impossible. So with regenerative agriculture, you have, you take as a base, the health of the soil and bring the soil to life again, because with the practices that we have done for the past 20, 30 years, we've been killing the soil little by little.

Portia: 36:12

Got you. I understand that. You being an entrepreneur and you know, the challenges of it, what advice would you give an entrepreneur, entrepreneurs who are trying, you know, who are just trying to make things work, want to do things differently. What advice would you give them? Since you've shaken things up yourself.

Josue: 36:32

Do you wanna start Abby?

Abby: 36:33

Exactly that start. And, don't wait until you're an expert. Don't wait for the perfect time. Just go ahead, and start doing something because that perfect moment is very rarely gonna fall in your lap. You're very rarely gonna know everything, especially in something like coffee, where we always say in coffee, you have to try not to learn. Cuz there's just so much stuff always going on and there is so much changing also. It's just start and again, ask, ask people. Most, I, I think especially people who wanna see change are open and they wanna have these conversations, and just like, have no fear. Be the dumbest person in the room.

Portia: 37:21

Yes. Yes. Be bold. Be brave.

Abby: 37:24

Yes. Course. And do it.

Portia: 37:27

Sweet. Right on Abs. I'm sorry, I'm, I'm, I'm giving people nicknames Abs Abby.

Abby: 37:32

Love it.

Portia: 37:33

Porsche.

Abby: 37:34

Love it.

Portia: 37:34

Ferrari. You guys are on all of the social media platforms. Um, you have a beautiful website. Talk to us about that. Where can people find you all and order coffee and help all of you out?

Abby: 37:50

chicabean.com. That's our website. You can order anywhere in the United States. We roast up on Mondays. We ship out on Tuesdays, and if it's a perfect shipment, it'll be there on Thursday. Lately, logistics have been a little slow and so things have been delivered more on Monday, but still like it's roasted within a week of getting to your door step. So that's awesome. Uh, and then Instagram, Chico Bean Coffee. We like to have fun on that and engage and. We would love to share excellent coffee straight from the hands of, of strong Guatemala and women to your step.

Portia: 38:30

Oh, wow. I could talk to you guys all day. I mean, you just real down home. Honestly, we just have a conversation. That's what this is. You know, just, it's just about, uh, learning about other cultures. I think that's important for our world to grow. Communities on this earth to grow because we need to step outside of our, our circle, you know? And then it's okay to, to learn about other cultures. It's okay to learn about someone who's in Guatemala, going through great times, bad times, you know, presenting new business ideas. That's what it's about, right?

Josue: 39:03

Yes. Mm-hmm.

Portia: 39:05

As we always say,

Josue: 39:07

Mm-hmm.

Portia: 39:08

Oh, wait minute. Say that again. Say that again.

Abby: 39:10

So, uh, as we always say, ante, like moving forward. Let's, we just gotta keep going forward.

Portia: 39:18

Oh, speak it girl. Thank you so much. You guys are a treat. I appreciate it. I'm.

Abby: 39:23

Thank you so much.

Portia: 39:24

I'm grateful myself. Yeah, yeah, no problem. Well, I think our listeners will be really pleased with all of this information. You guys have so much to offer. You have coffee, you sell wholesale coffee, beans or bags and so forth. There's tons of information on the website, guys, where you guys can just soak it in. You could stay, you could stay there for hours and just read stories, look at videos, and,

Abby: 39:51

Yeah. Thank you so much. We're grateful for the opportunity to be able to, to share our story, uh, share our hopes and dreams and, and hopefully expand our community.

Portia: 40:01

Mm-hmm. Absolutely. Thank you, Josue.

Josue: 40:04

Thank you, Portia.

Portia: 40:06

I'm Portia White, and I hope you've enjoyed today's conversation. I'd like to give a special thanks to our sponsor betterwithacupofcoffee.com. If you want to be our guest on our show, email me at cuppaconnections@gmail.com. And if you liked what you heard, please rate and review our podcast. And, join us again soon on Cuppa Connections.