Meet Abbigail Graupner | Co-owner & Business Development Partner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Abbigail Graupner and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Abbigail, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
Coffee would not exist without colonialism or slavery. Even today, the supply chain that gets coffee from the lands where it’s cultivated to your store shelves is basically the exact same model that was developed 200 years ago. Coffee, a lovely cherry-like fruit that grows on shrub-like trees, is cultivated mostly in formally colonized, “developing” countries. In the typical extractive fashion, the coffee is grown, harvested, and processed various times until it’s in a stable, dried form called “green bean.” It is usually consolidated together to make large batches that are packed up into freight containers and then shipped out to a “consuming” country. In the consuming country, it will be transformed into a usable form by roasting it. The roasted coffee is distributed to final consumers, either directly or through wholesale partners or even coffee shops. In the traditional model, none of the value from that final roasted coffee gets brought back to the producing country; producers are stuck with the left overs of the value of the raw green bean price. And take a moment to take a guess where the price of the coffee jumps. If you guessed roasting, you’d be right. An average 12oz bag of roasted coffee will cost about $15, while right now the green bean coffee C Price (the international market standard for trading commodities like coffee) is hovering around $2. That’s a big jump, even considering that $2 C Price is actually unusually high. This is the reality for coffee farmers in Guatemala. Since such a low percentage of the coffee’s value stays in the producing country, and an even smaller percentage of that going to the people who actually grow the fruit, it’s no wonder that so many coffee farmers suffer from malnutrition or end up leaving their homeland in search of better lives in which they can support their families.

At Chica Bean, we throw this traditional model out of the door. We’re a specialty coffee roaster based in Guatemala, just a car ride away from where our coffee is grown. By roasting in origin, we’re able to keep 86% percent of the value of the coffee in the producing country, which means we are able to pay producers more than double the community price, while also having more control over quality and creating jobs that would usually not be found in Guatemala. And we do it all by working with strong women. From seed to cup, our company is based on the ideology that the more women have access to economic, professional, and decision-making opportunities, the more our community will flourish. We are able to accomplish all of this because of our quality. Not only does our coffee tell a beautiful story, but it’s dang good! People can order directly on our website, www.chicabean.com, and will receive as little as 1 bag directly from our roastery in Guatemala to their address, all within a week of the coffee being roasted. We’re not just ensuring that the women behind the coffee benefit from more value, but also that our US based customers get to enjoy the most delicious and authentic Guatemalan coffee on the market.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?

At Chica Bean, we prove that it isn’t necessary for the world to continue using a model that was designed through an exploitative, colonialist framework. We, as humans, are better than just continuing to do things in a certain way because that’s the way it’s always been and it’s easy. Coffee is such a beautiful product because despite the struggles that producers face in even making ends meet, it still brings such joy. Coffee farmers love working with coffee. Coffee roasters love transforming it. Coffee drinkers unite over a cup or, simply, can’t imagine their mornings without it. It is a good that is the epitome of opportunity and I personally am so proud to be part of an innovative model that is redistributing value so that everyone involved wins.

Our journey as a small business has not been easy… far from it. Josue and I often joke that if we’d have known just how hard it was going to be, we probably wouldn’t have even tried. I guess that ignorance was a blessing. When people learn about what we do, they often ask about challenges. “Retos” as we call them in Guatemala. They usually anticipate that we’ll talk about working with women in a machista culture or training women in one of the many technical aspects of coffee, whether that be agriculture or roasting, or even building a logistical infrastructure that allows us to serve our customers nearly the exact same as any US based roaster. However, when I look back at the past 5 years, our biggest obstacle is a no brainer: sales. The fact that we are based in Guatemala and we don’t have a physical presence in the United States, despite that being our main market, has been a true challenge. Everything is more difficult at a distance. Connecting with wholesale customers, especially in our first few years, was, and honestly continues to be, quite difficult. Through a wonderful network of coffee professionals, we have finally succeeded in spreading through several coffee shops and resale outlets across the country, but let me tell you… it’s been slow. Things like reaching final customers through social media is more difficult because of the algorithm. Even when we have tried doing paid advertisements with a specified geographical location, at least half of the audience always comes back as being from Guatemala. Don’t get me wrong, it’s wonderful growing our name in our home community. Having strong local support is key to our success however the specialty coffee market just isn’t large enough here in Guatemala, yet. The amount of people with enough disposable income to pay for coffee that properly pays producers just isn’t large enough, yet. Plus, many Guatemalans aren’t interested in the high quality of specialty coffee. Historically, all the “good” coffee has been sent out of Guatemala, leaving locals to only drink the leftover defected seeds or instant. The specialty market is growing here, but behaviors change slowly.

Josue and I also sometimes joke that it’s a shame we have such high values as it really would be quite easy to make money in coffee if exploiting people or the land didn’t matter to you. That’s not necessarily the case for farmers, especially smallholder farmers like the women we work with, as they are always the ones with the most amount of risk and least amount of pay. But understanding the supply chain and all the different actors involved and distribution of actual risks, it’s just impossible to even imagine working in a way that just feeds into the old system which clearly doesn’t work for all stakeholders. It’s an honor to be growing a model that doesn’t just work, but supports thriving communities, showing that private businesses really do have the power to create lasting change for the better.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Oh this is an easy one! Guatemala is a hidden gem, or so they say. I’m not sure just how hidden it is as I certainly interact with quite a few tourists, but I get what they are trying to say. It might not be on the top of most people’s travel lists. First off, I would hope that my friend is coming to visit in January, as a lot of our trip would be focused around, of course, coffee. Plus, January is the dry season which means more time enjoying full days without the interruption of water.

To start our week, I would bring my best friend to visit some of our female coffee producers in the small village of San Antonio las Flores, Jalapa. It’s about a 5 hour drive, so we would leave at 9am to miss the city traffic and be passing through the town of Nueva Santa Rosa at lunch time, ideal since there is an amazing taco restaurant right on that main road. After our taco lunch, we’d continue to Las Flores, which is still another 2 hours, a good portion of which is dirt road. In this trip, we would stay 4 days with the women, most likely mainly being hosted by Sucy as her family has a bit of extra space. The first day we would visit with Sucy and her family, catching up on community news and getting an update about the harvest. My friend doesn’t know much about traditional coffee processing, so if we’re lucky, we’ll be able to hope up to the nearby cooperative to see their facilities. As it is the harvest season, we would see real in-time processing and cooperative members arrive in their pick-up trucks to drop off their day’s fruits. After the tour, we’ll head back to Sucy’s for a dinner of a chicken and local herb soup with hand-clapped tortillas and fresh lemonade. We’ll end with a sweet bread and a café de olla before hitting the sack. The stars in Las Flores are not to be overlooked as the clear nights that are normal in January give the perfect opportunity to enjoy a site that a densely populated country like Guatemala very rarely boasts. But Las Flores is very rural and the stars shine as if giving thanks for the clarity.

The second day is an early one as we’re being put to work harvesting. But first, my favorite Las Flores meal… breakfast! Breakfasts in Las Flores are a true treat and while it may sound normal, especially in a Guatemalan context, there is something special in their water or they are just straight up magic because flavors jump higher than they usually do while every texture is more satisfying than your imagination could even predict. Black beans in a shallow soup-like sauce, fresh eggs from the patio perfectly scrambled with onions and tomatoes, tortillas toasted until crispy directly on the wood fire, fresh avocados and bananas harvested from the yard, local cheese that is crumbly and salty and pulls it all together, and of course, more coffee. After filling ourselves up to the brim, we grab a basket, fill our water, and hop in the back of the pick-up truck that takes us all to the piece of land we’ll be working that day. Guatemala is a land of volcanoes and ravines so you can imagine the kind of landscape we’re working. We traverse steep terrains, more than 50 degrees of an angle, with rows and rows of coffee plants, separated by intermingled shade trees and native canopy. It’s hard to keep your footing, let alone think about perfectly harvesting each and every coffee fruit; only the ripe ones and without the little green nib that likes to hang on, just as Sucy and her family have taught us. We’ll be slow at picking the fruits and there is a pretty good chance that at least one of us will fall at least once, but we’ll stay at it for hours and hours, sharing stories and asking questions sometimes while enjoying our silence and the sounds of nature in others. We’ll break for a light lunch before continuing to harvest. At around 4pm we’ll head back home, where we’ll enjoy some coffee and sweet bread as we rest before continuing the work of depulping and selecting the fruits. Depulping is separating the fruit skins from the coffee seeds and is a very important part of processing coffee. Using the artisanal bicycle-like depulpers is fun but also very time consuming. But we’re there to help and we do until the very last of the sacks of coffee cherries have been depulped and the buckets receiving the seeds have been selected. It takes hours but in the end, we fill the buckets up with enough water to cover the seeds, head to the pila to wash up, and then saunter into the kitchen for another spectacular home cooked meal of something like chicken with beans, vegetables, and of course tortillas. And maybe an atol of some kind… yummmm. We’d be so tired, it’s be hard to even look up, but those stars would be calling again as we made our way back to our homestay, ready to pass out.

Our final day would be filled with visits. We’d mainly been staying with Sucy and her family, but we work with various women throughout the community. On our way back to Sucy’s house for breakfast, we’d stop by a little store on the side of the road. The woman who would attend us is named Amilsa and she is herself a coffee producer. As soon as she saw me, she’d pull up some chairs and offer us a soda so we’d sit and chat. After visiting Amilsa, we’d continue walking. We’d walk past the school where you can see inside the classrooms. The door at the end of the hall, closest to the road, is Anyelica’s classroom. Another one of our producers, I would stop and wave and if possible, she’d come out to greet us and chat, updating me on her own production as well as that of her family. Breakfast would be another glorious combination, hopefully the exact same as the day before. After breakfast, we would help Sucy with her normal household chores, like washing the clothes by hand and making tortillas. Tortilla making, or torteando, is an art in itself. Even after 7 years of living in Guatemala, my tortillas still come out rather lumpy. My friend’s tortillas would make the whole family laugh. This is an opportunity for Sucy and her family to teach us something that is truly Guatemalan, in the purest of ways and it’ll be a joy to see all 3 generations of her house participating. After making the tortillas, we’ll help Sucy prepare her side-hustle, which is selling afterschool snacks to the students as they leave the school. We’ll pack up a bunch of different little portions of fruits and simple sandwiches made of ham and mayonnaise and head to the school. As Sucy stays and works, we’ll walk with Anyelica up to her house so we can visit with her and her mom, Nidia. They will show my friend all of their potted plants and the variety of fruit growing trees they have on their property. From apples and bananas to nispero, pomegranate, guayaba, and jocote, they’ll show how to properly harvest each one and give us some to try on the spot. After stuffing our faces in fruit, we’ll continue to Ilcia and Raquel’s house, just up the hill. They will probably have some coffee and sweet breads waiting for us so we’ll sit and enjoy that and the conversation for a bit, catching up on Raquel’s family and Ilcia’s main job, also as a teacher but at a farther school. Inevitably, we’ll start talking about chickens and Raquel will herd us to their back yard where she’ll explain all the different kinds of hens and roosters she has, from giant ones perched in trees to tiny little puff balls that look like cornish hens, and everything in between. After saying good night, we’ll head back to Sucy’s for a light dinner, probably another delicious soup, and then continue to pass out.

On the fourth day, we will pack up and then maybe head with one of Sucy’s family members, probably Tío Coco, to check out the plot of land they use as a nursery for baby coffee plants. It’s gorgeous, located right next to a river. Unfortunately, we’ll have to leave soon after as we don’t want to get stuck in Guatemala City’s traffic. We’ll head out around 10am and use this day as mainly a travel and recuperation day, staying in Antigua, Guatemala, where I live. We’ll probably keep it pretty chill, just going out for dinner at one of the many incredible restaurants in Antigua before calling in an early night.

The fifth day, we’ll continue the coffee theme but this time at the Chica Bean headquarters where my friend will do our roasting and tasting tour. Hopefully there are other people signed up so there is a good group to talk and share with. The tour starts with a mini master class about the coffee industry, including history and who Chica Bean is and why we’re different. Then, we go into an agri and processing focus where participants will learn the basics of 3 different coffee processing strategies: Washed, Honey, and Natural. We’ll continue to the roastery where they will accompany Chica Bean Roast Master Evelin as she roasts a batch of coffee. They will then pack a bag of coffee that they will get to keep. Then we’ll move back to the coffee shop for a tasting of the coffee. For the tasting, they can choose if they want to try 3 different processes prepared in the same brew method, 3 different roast profiles prepared in the same brew method, or 1 coffee brewed in 3 different brew methods. We’ll continue the mini master class to focus on brew tips as well as strategies that professional cuppers and food scientists use when tasting coffee. It’s a right proper good time and super informative. Even with all the coffee, we will still probably be exhausted, so we’d take it easy for the rest of the day, especially considering our next plans.

As mentioned, Guatemala is a land of volcanoes, and I would never allow my friend to miss one of Guatemala’s most spectacular: Volcan de Fuego. On the 6th day, we would hike the neighboring Acatenango Volcano which overlooks Volcan de Fuego. After a 6 hour hike to the base camp, we’d have comfy seats to an unbelievable show: an active volcano. Fuego is one of the most active volcanoes in the world and from Acatenango, there is no missing the violent eruptions spraying massing rock bombs and lava streams hundreds of meters into the air. The booms that escape along with the lava aren’t just heard, but felt through your entire body. It’s cold up on Acatenango, very very cold, but the base camp has fires to stay warm by. Most people will camp, going to, or at least try to, sleep in a tent before waking up 2 hours before sunset to cover the remaining space up to the summit. This is the hardest part as much of the path is pure ash. Every 2 steps forward results in at least a half a step backwards. It’s hard hiking and way colder than anyone ever expects and dreadfully high altitude and right when you think you can’t make it, you reach the summit, right as the sun starts to leave the horizon. Color explodes throughout the sky and low hanging clouds cover the city below. From up there, you don’t only see Volcan de Fuego, but also Pacaya, Volcan de Agua, even Ipala highlighted by the orange glow. You can only stay up there about 15 minutes due to the extreme cold, but those will be 15 minutes that are never forgotten. The hike down is almost as difficult as the hike up, with a constant pressure on leg joints and loose, dusty paths. Honestly, the hike up is more fun. But once down, it’s time to chow down. I’ll take my best friend to a restaurant that serves all organic, locally grown food and we’ll go to town on pancakes with Mayan bee honey and mushroom omelets and black beans, fried plantains, panela cheese, and tomato sauce. We’d be exhausted and it would probably be one of the last meals, so we’d eat a bit of everything.

And there we would be, on the 7th day. Getting to the Guatemalan airport is no joke, so we’d set plenty of time aside for that. While this trip doesn’t include any of the other true gems of Guatemala, such as Lake Atitlan, Xela, or Tikal, the experience of going to Las Flores, Jalapa, of sharing so intimately with real women and getting hands dirty doing actual work, is unreplicable. I can detail this trip so thoroughly because I have made this trip before and even just going through the process of recollecting it pulls at my heartstrings. I am truly lucky to live in a reality where this is my life.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Can I mention 2? First off, on a local note, we are honored to partner with the organization Tree 4 Hope and the bilingual STEAM school for girls that they sponsor in our community of Santa Lucía Milpas Altas, Sacatepequez, Guatemala. We’ve worked together on various paths, from developing a coffee focused Advent Calendar that helps them have a sustainable income to an internship for their 6th grade girls. I am particularly excited by the internship. We are now in our 3rd year of working with the girls. They come to visit our facilities once a month for their entire school year. Each month we focus on a different aspect of coffee, from the agricultural side all the way to the processing, roasting, and brewing. We also work with them on business development concepts like branding, storytelling, marketing, customer feedback, package design, and pricing. At the end of the internship, the girls develop their own brand of coffee, which we sell on our website and all profits go back to them so that they can continue studying. It’s a beautiful process to be a part of and we’re honored to have found such great partners who are so dedicated to the education of young girls, combining just wonderfully with our mission to support professional development for Guatemalan women.

And, honestly, I can’t not mention the Peace Corps. I came to Guatemala back in 2017 for a short-term Peace Corps Response project. Beyond bringing me to this wonderful country, it was through that service that I learned about coffee, from a producers’ viewpoint rather than a consumers. I learned all about the industry from the lens of my coffee producing community and I am so grateful for that perspective. It was also through the Peace Corps that I met my Chica Bean business partners, Alene and Josue. Alene also came to Guatemala through the Peace Corps, back in 2008, which is when she met her now husband, Josue. Without the stars having aligned through the Peace Corps, Chica Bean would not exist.

Website: https://chicabean.com/

Instagram: @chicabeancoffee @abbs_o_lutely

Linkedin: Abbigail Graupner

Facebook: @chicabeancoffee

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@chicabeancoffee