As our first year comes to a close, we can’t help but look back in awe at the journey we’ve had since February, when we roasted our first batches of Gitesi Peaberry and Gitesi Espresso. Little did we know where this adventure would lead us.

In just a year, we opened our coffee bar, connected with incredible people, and formed lasting friendships over a shared vision of the coffee industry that is based on direct relationships, recognition for the work of the producers, and most importantly predictable and self determined prices for coffee producers.

Highlights of 2024

One of the most memorable moments was welcoming Carlos Guerra and Hidardo Hernández in July. Hidardo is the producer behind our Cascaritas Espresso, Natural, and Classic coffees, and his visit was truly inspiring. Carlos and Hidardo took time off their busy schedule to connect with coffee drinkers in our café and talk with them about coffee production and its challenges in Honduras.

Another highlight was meeting Esnaider Ortega-Gómez and Didier Ortega from the monKaaba initiative during their visit in October. We welcomed Esnaider and Didier in our café, shared breakfast and talked about the monKaaba project and how its field blend, La Colmena, is transformative in giving to young producers in the community access to the high priced specialty coffee market.

Adding to these special moments, Anabel traveled to Colombia in July to meet the producers of the monKaaba initiative in person, getting to know the people behind some really incredible coffees.

Our final highlight was the screening of the short film series Más que un café in our coffee shop together with the producer support organisation Bean Voyage.

The short films were made by five coffee producers from Costa Rica, including Arleen and María Jimenez, who produce the Angostura Espresso in our shop; Ericka Mora Blanco, Margoth Rivera, and Tatiana Vargas. They are deeply personal self portraits shot by the five women themselves and it was really special for us to screen the short films in our café.

With Warawul, we wanted to provide a platform for coffee drinkers to connect with the producers of their coffee and give producers the opportunity to tell their story in their own words. So for us, these events felt truly special.

The Year in Numbers

Here’s a snapshot of the green coffee we sourced this year:

• 300 kg from Aimé Gahizi, Gitesi Coffee (2023 harvest)
• 1,200 kg from Aimé Gahizi, Gitesi Coffee (2024 harvest)
• 138 kg from Moíses Hidardo Hernández, CAFESMO (2023 harvest)
• 207 kg from Moíses Hidardo Hernández, CAFESMO (2024 harvest)
• 140 kg from Diever Galindez, monKaaba (2023 harvest)
• 140 kg of Colmena, monKaaba initiative (2024 harvest)
• 140 kg from Arleen and María Jimenez (2024 harvest)
• 31 kg from Arelys Monge (2024 harvest)

One of our proudest achievements was placing our second order with Aimé Gahizi. This time, we sourced 1,200 kg of coffee directly from Aimé in June, with logistics handled by Algrano. We’re thrilled to share that this shipment arrived in Germany just in time for Christmas. You can expect the Gitesi coffees to be back in stock by the second half of January!

Looking Ahead to 2025

As we step into our second year, we are excited to continue strengthening our relationships with producers, exploring new coffees, and building on the vision of connecting coffee drinkers and coffee producers.

We want to continue roasting these really good coffees. And of course we want to continue to grow, because the only way to make this a meaningful endeavour is to achieve a scale where the quantity we buy from each producer is also meaningful.

All of this comes at a time when much of the world of coffee is dealing with challenges of climate change, volatile prices, and geopolitical turmoil. We believe that our model of close, personal, and direct relationships across the coffee trade can mitigate those risks and create great experiences together whose value is shared across the value chain.