“Product-led acquisition is an old way of thinking in the industry”, Casey starts. “A lot of people still look for top-quality exclusive coffees and, yeah, if that is your angle then there is a customer base for that.” However, the roaster says that consumers are changing and want to know that the roastery’s model is sustainable. “Our customer base is not just about cup quality. People buy from us to support what we are doing. It’s because of our brand.”

Casey is a strong believer that the producer’s story has a positive impact on the coffee experience. “We really loved the role she plays in the community and within Bean Voyage, being the oldest member of the team and so invested”, she says about Doña Ara. “She is full of wisdom and wants to pass it along. She messages everyone at night. I could feel that coming through her coffee.” She can also feel the notes of fudge, apricot and peach and says Aracelly’s honey is a huge hit on espresso.

It’s impossible to dismiss the weight of a producer’s character when looking at the different offers on GWG’s selection. Aracelly is painted onto the packaging with the roastery’s typical bold colours and an aura of Marilyn Monroe turned coffee farmer. It’s fun. Now an elderly lady and her family’s matriarch, Aracelly found the box with her picture on it to be “very impressive” indeed. “I had never seen such a thing. It was very beautiful but I don’t have the words to explain how I felt”, she recalls, adding that her friends and family were thrilled to share her happiness. 

This is how GWGC introduce Doña Ara’s coffee to their customers. And though they flirt with a romantic description of the farmer, nestling her small plot on top of “lush and foggy” hills where she is the “brightest” of many friendly faces, they manage to capture Doña Ara’s dignity and leadership spirit. The same spirit that makes her the poster girl for Bean Voyage and symbol of their values.

“What we do is to get people that have a mentality of quality over quantity. Doña Ara is like that. Her selective picking has been very good since the beginning. Her Brix levels are always above 20, making her coffee great for natural process”, explains Nayarith Calderón Martines of the Centro Agricola Cantonal de Frailes, the mill that processes the Aracelly’s coffee and facilitates the work of Bean Voyage in the region. “She is an example for other women and one of the first to trust Bean Voyage’s project. She was brave and walked into it blindly, without knowing how it would turn up. Now, if I want to engage new producers I always invite Aracelly to speak to them.”  

Whilst Doña Ara is happy to find a buyer that pays her above the price offered by most local mills and that she feels she can trust, SungHee of Bean Voyage tries to be a multiplier of what she deems to be a model partnership. “They [GWGC] really put their dollars where their mouth is, setting an example for what a conscious coffee sourcing can look like! They are super considerate and consistent when it comes to buying the same coffee from the same farmers that they work with, and maintain the relationships beyond just the sales point”, she says with enthusiasm. 

Just as Casey promotes Bean Voyage to other roasters - she was, in fact, the one who introduced them to Algrano - SungHee is an advertiser for GWGC’s Cheek to Cheek initiative. The program is the roastery’s response to roasteries “setting up” projects in producing countries despite their lack of expertise. Cheek to Cheek directs 10% of the sale price of retail bags back to producers to repay them for the use of their stories without prescribing how that money has to be used. SungHee tell us that “we always share [the program] with our network of buyers as an excellent example of how storytelling can create concrete benefits for everyone in the value chain!”