Local

A specialty coffee business with family roots

Katie Scott | Catholic Herald

The skins of the de-pulped coffee fruits are used as fertilizer on the farm.

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Rosa, a Colombian working on a Campesino Specialty Coffee farm, hand sorts coffee beans to remove those with defects. Machines perform the work more quickly, but quality and jobs are lost with mechanization, according to Campesino founder Daniel Velasquez.

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Jorge, a coffee picker for a Campesino Specialty Coffee farm in Colombia, selects the ripest fruits to be processed into coffee beans and roasted in the United States. Local Catholic Daniel Velasquez began Campesino as a farm-direct import business about three years ago.

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For many early risers, coffee is a necessary burst of
caffeine sipped out of a travel mug en route to work or while
checking the day’s first emails. Not for Daniel Velasquez,
who grew up a parishioner of St. Leo the Great Church in
Fairfax and now attends St. Timothy Church in Chantilly. When
he savors a cup of joe – always “straight black” – he pays
attention to the flavors and speaks of the brew as a wine
connoisseur might evaluate an aged Chardonnay.

“I love the chocolatey, caramel notes, the rich, thick body,”
said Velasquez, describing one of his favorite Colombian
coffees.

The 33-year-old works full time in real estate, but his
passion for the beverage inspired him to launch Campesino
Specialty Coffee, a company that connects Colombian farmers
with U.S.-based roasters. Started three years ago, it’s a
farm-direct import business that Velasquez structured to
“increase the return for the hard-working campesino (farmer),
the pickers and their families … and bring the most
delicious specialty coffee to market.”

The coffee business is in his blood. Velasquez’s grandfather
left his home in Colombia at age 8 in search of work, and he
walked 300 miles before finding a job on a coffee farm. By
the time he was 16, he’d become the right-hand man of a
prominent coffee farmer. By 17, he’d married the farmer’s
daughter, and he went on to nurture his own successful coffee
farms – and 16 children.

But the coffee business bug skipped a generation, and
eventually all his grandfather’s farms were sold.

About four years ago, Velasquez visited a cousin in Colombia,
who ran a small recreational coffee farm. Taking a sip of his
cousin’s coffee, he thought, “I’ve got to get this to the
States,” Velasquez recalled. “I’d never tasted anything so
rich.”

Colombian coffee is known for being one of the most flavorful
coffees in the world, he said, in part because the climate
and altitude create optimal growing conditions.

Velasquez’s fledgling company made a first shipment of 1,200
pounds of Colombian beans to the United States in 2013. The
projected amount for 2016 is more than 35,000 pounds.
Velasquez now works with two farms, El Ocaso in Salento and
Villa Bernarda in Jericó, both in northwest Colombia.

Campesino Specialty Coffee’s business model includes many of
the characteristics promised by fair-trade coffee producers,
but Velasquez is quick to point out it is not technically
fair trade.

The fair trade certification for coffee “doesn’t always work
out in benefit of the farmer,” said Velasquez. Not only are
certification costs often prohibitive for farmers, but fair
trade organizations also work through co-ops, which don’t
always distribute earnings fairly to farmers, according to
Velasquez. “Because of corruption and other things, there’s a
lot of controversy around the co-ops,” he said.

Velasquez said he aims to facilitate “authentic fair trade.”

“There is complete transparency between the farmers and the
roasters,” he said, with his company the link between the
two. “There aren’t other intermediaries or fluff.”

Beans are sold nationally to high-end restaurants and hotels
under roasters’ labels. They also are used by a number of
local roasters with cafes, including Swing’s Coffee, located
in the Del Ray neighborhood of Alexandria and in Washington;
Vigilante Coffee, in both Hyattsville, Md., and Washington;
Qualia Coffee in Washington; and Blanchard’s Coffee Roasting
Co. in Richmond. Blanchard’s coffee can be purchased at Whole
Foods in Fairfax.

Before it makes its way into a to-go cup of steaming java,
the coffee starts as a cherry-like fruit. Once ripe, it’s
taken off the trees by coffee-pickers, de-pulped by a
machine, fermented for around 15 hours and washed. After
drying in the sun for one to two weeks, the shell is removed,
leaving behind the green coffee bean. Workers then hand sort
the beans, removing any with chips or mold.

A machine can sort much faster, but Velasquez hires locals to
do the work. “I believe in providing jobs and maintaining
sustainability, and therefore the quality control is all done
by hand,” he said.

Once sorted, the beans are shipped to a port in Miami and off
to roasters.

With his success and interest in coffee growing, Velasquez is
partnering with a farm in Costa Rica. Come March, he’ll be
moving to Colombia where, like his grandfather, he’ll immerse
himself in all aspects of coffee farming and processing. He
plans to open a coffee laboratory to analyze coffee from
other farms and, if all goes well, form relationships with
additional farmers.

Velasquez said his faith guides all aspects of his business.
“My focus is to grow along with my farmer and roaster
partners, not just my company,” he said. “I trust in …
God to guide me and keep me on a steady and humble path.

“But I’m definitely not giving handouts,” he added. “When
you’re on the farms and speaking to farmers, when you see
these older people climbing steep hills at 5 a.m., it makes
me glad they’re able to get paid (more than) they’d get paid
on a commercial farm. Then to see their work being enjoyed in
the States … that’s rewarding.”

Find out more

campesinospecialtycoffee.com

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