Home Sweet Home

John, Les, and Jamie are all back from a great trip in Guatemala.

There were so many great things that happened this trip that we will continue to update the blog with new photos and stories from this past month.

The first image is of Demetrio, one of the new farmers of La Armonia Hermosa Coffee. He is showing us his large arabica trees. He has a wide assortment of coffee trees of all ages and an assortment of shade trees. He's great! Incredibly animated, and very passionate about his crop.

The second image is Demetrio walking back from his farm to the path probably carrying about 40 pounds worth of jocote (a tropical fruit) on his back! The incredible part is he is 56 years old and barely broke a sweat!

Also incredible is this path that he and all the other farmers have to walk up with all of their products to go back up to Santa Maria from their farm! Wow... these guys are strong and fit! You didn't want to see us after climbing this hill without anything on our backs.

The last image is John and Les talking with Demetrio about his crop this year and eveything that goes into it. Very exciting!

Next edition: Juan's farm and family

Espresso and Latte Art Training

Last month we had a record month and some exciting new classes. Les Stoneham held an Espresso and Latte Art Class on December 28th. The turn out was great with people from all over the world!

For the first half of the class, Les instructed all of the students on the history, agriculture methods, and what goes into pouring the perfect shot of espresso. Here is a short snapshot of this section of the class...


The second half of the class, the participants were divided into two groups. One group enjoyed some tasty treats (some people asked for these recipes, please check back soon. I'll post them in a later post) and learned how to create a latte on some of the high quality home espresso machines VCC has to offer (Nuova Simonelli Oscar, and Rancillo Silva). The second group was with Les again learning hands-on how to pour the perfect cappuccino, latte art included. With a sampling of our Little River Style Espresso and our Fair Trade Thunderhead Espresso, Each student was given the chance to pull their own shot and enjoy their own handmade drinks off of our Nuova Simonelli Appia compact commercial espresso machine. Then the two groups rotated. The class was incredibly enjoyable and informational with participants from all walks of their "coffee journey."

It was such a success that John has decided to make this training a seasonal training. If you are interested in attending the next class please don't hesitate to call or email us for more information. We have not planned the next event yet, but please check back soon.