Darwin’s Coffee offers high quality coffee beans from
specialty farmers across the globe. This specialty company roasts the beans
when you order them and then ships them right away. This ensures the absolute
freshest taste possible in your cup. This is their story.
How it Started
A fortuitous meeting at a coffee
cupping event in Michigan was the start of it all. Brian Brusich
had a background in chemistry. He met Darwin Pavon at a coffee tasting
event in 2015 in the city of Flushing. Honduran by birth, Darwin had a
background in agricultural engineering. His area of expertise? The soil. Darwin
had previously worked with various types of farmers before jumping into the
roasting business. He became adept at analyzing the soil and growing conditions
to develop fertilizers and improve crop yields. Brian and Darwin hit it off at
the cupping, and the idea for a new coffee roasting business began to form.
Darwin’s Single Origin Coffee came into existence in 2016. This unique roaster
eliminates the middle-man, importing high quality beans directly from the
source.
“We work in a direct
relationship with farmers all around the globe to locate and deliver our
absolute favorite coffees from our travels.”
From the World to You
It’s a complex process to get beans from small farms all over
the world into your kitchen cup. Many of these coffee farms are very small.
They are also quite often located in extremely rural parts of the world.
Infrastructure makes travel to and from these farms tricky. As a
result, exporting from these farms is a challenging process. But fair trade and sustainability go
hand in hand with the small-farm model. That’s what Darwin’s Coffee is
committed to.
Darwin grew up in Honduras, and personally benefited from a
local community mission known as The Micah
Project. It’s a faith-based non-profit organization dedicated to providing
at-risk Honduran youth with resources and skills to make a better future for
themselves. Darwin’s Coffee has also supported The Micah Project in the past.
Brian and Darwin hope to support other similar community groups in the future.
Coffee Variety is the
Spice of Life
What bean variety is the best seller at Darwin’s? Well,
coffee is a subjective addiction. Taste buds vary from culture to culture and
from person to person. In the big picture, the bean from the Santa
Helena region of Honduras is one of their best sellers. It has a
bright taste with notes of citrus, floral, milk chocolate, and bright
blueberry. The coffee inventory on the website rotates based on seasonality
and types of green beans that Brian and Darwin keep on hand.
Java lovers can explore the world and compare the unique flavors
from cup to cup. Darwin’s sells varieties from the regions of Honduras, Guatemala, Ethiopia, Sumatra, Costa Rica, Columbia,
and Nepal.
Why do Brian and Darwin travel directly to these farms (besides
getting to see the world)? Brian explained it this way.
- Direct trade
relationships benefit both roasters and producers.
- Brian and Darwin
can see the quality of production in person.
- Darwin’s Coffee
can help farmers who can't export themselves for whatever reason (usually
logistics). Brian and Darwin facilitate relationships so those farmers can
benefit from direct trade by proxy. It’s a win-win for everyone involved!
When asked about his preferred brewing method, Brian admitted
that he is a huge fan of the Chemex
system when he has the luxury of time. If he’s in a bigger hurry,
though, Brian does enjoy using a French press. (That’s
my favorite method as well!)
My Own Personal Cupping
Brian was kind enough to send me two samples of coffee for
tasting. I was so excited to get a bag of Honduran
Aposento Alto to try, as well as a bag of Ethiopian
Keneon Chire. And I loved that each bag came with a note card telling me all
about the bean, the region, and the farm. You can also read about each farmer
and see photos of each farm on the Darwin’s Coffee website. I'm a firm believer
in fair trade, direct trade, and sustainability. Because of this, I find
the detailed information extremely valuable.
Even though each variety was grown in vastly different regions, I wanted to try these coffees side by side.
The first thing I do when trying a
new variety of java is open the bag and take several long sniffs. OH, MY! The
first aroma that came to mind with the Honduran variety was roasted toffee. And
cherry is the first scent that came to mind when I inhaled the Ethiopian
coffee. The aroma was intense and heady for both of these cups. They were also
(not surprisingly) vastly different from one another.
Each cup was rich, balanced, and unique. The descriptions
provided on the enclosed cards hit the nail on the head as far as tasting notes
go. The freshness was evident with each sip. I was definitely in coffee heaven!
Check out
their website, explore a new flavor, and support a coffee farmer directly
with your purchase. You’ll be glad you did!
