All We Owe to Coffee Farming Dads

There’s never enough ways to thank our fathers. So much of their work and effort for us goes largely unnoticed, but there’s no father out there who doesn’t sacrifice out of love for their children. Having one day to celebrate them is more about having a day to reflect on this and show appreciation. Undoubtedly, fathers are the ultimate influencers. On that note, I made myself a large cappuccino and thought of all the ways my dad and other father figures have shaped me for the best. 

For starters, my dad taught me to wake up early and work. He did it with the warmth and gentleness little girls need as we would make cappuccinos and get our to-do list all set in a spiral notebook (my dad’s favorite type of notebook). This is a habit I keep up to this day. 

It's not much different for coffee farmers, especially during summer breaks. Most coffee farmers don’t start their day with coffee (more on that on this blog), but they rise early and bring their children to work. Much about childhood at coffee farms is about apprenticeship and service. Fathers don’t only teach the work ethic, but the technicalities of growing good coffee. There’s many institutions and governmental organizations dedicated to protecting the craft of growing coffee, given that it is such a high maintenance crop and the harvesting requires a skill level that’s difficult to transfer. And yet, these organizations have concluded that the best way to protect the craft is by simply protecting family farms, where fathers have effectively transferred this skill for generations. 

You can go to school and learn about the science of growing coffee, but much of the academia is a sort of report on what coffee farming families have developed. More on that here!

In addition to the transfer of skills, the understanding and pride over their work is passed down by fathers. A vast amount of coffee farmers have spent their whole lives around coffee farms and understand the unique values of their trade. They are grateful for the opportunity to work in this field and while they may not be personally recognized, their specific regions are as coffee is sold worldwide under regional labels. (What do you mean by regions?) 

Here at Guadalupe Roastery, we celebrate fathers everyday by honoring their work and sharing it with the world. Every time you purchase coffee from GR you are sponsoring the leadership of family men across coffee farms and the coffee industry as 60% of the world’s coffee is grown in family farms with less than 12 acres. 

I’ll leave you to think of that, as I head to the kitchen for a second cappuccino brewed with beans harvested through the skill, knowledge, and leadership of fathers.