“I wanted to bring the tastes of Hawaii back to the community,” he said. Now, he and his father, Mike, roast select organic, fair trade and direct trade coffee.

“Transparency is huge for me,” Maeyens said. “It’s important to take the taste and story of coffee and trace it back to its origin.”

Maeyens visits a coffee-producing country each year, and every bean he sells can be sourced to the exact farm it came from. READ ARTICLE

My first correspondence with Rudy Cárcamo, a coffee farmer from La Unión, Honduras, was a Facebook message that simply read “Gooooordooooo!” (Fatty!). It was actually meant for another friend, but Rudy accidently sent it to me. If it weren’t for Rudy calling me Fatty, though, I might not have taken a chance to fly down to La Unión, work with Rudy on his finca and experience the wonderful flavors of Rudy’s coffee imparted by the terroir. READ ARTICLE