Primavera Coffee Importers

Founded by 4th generation coffee grower, Nadine Rasch, Primavera is pairing their detailed expertise of Guatemalan coffee with a rigorous approach to transparency to help farmers achieve the best price possible for their delicious coffees. We’re proud to stand alongside them as participants in the Specialty Coffee Transaction Guide.

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Nadine Rasch

OWNER & FOUNDER

We’d like to introduce you to our coffee partner, Nadine Rasch. The founder and Director of Primavera Coffee, Nadine is a force of nature and fourth generation coffee producer (her and her Father Christian Rasch own the magnificent Finca El Hato). She’s been working tirelessly for many years to provide Roasters with a clear and transparent path to work directly with coffee producers in Guatemala and help build long lasting alliances – including ourselves!

Primavera Coffee and sister company La Central de Café, are our allies in Guatemala who represent over 200 coffee producers and have created a collaborative network with a foundation built on equity, transparency and quality.

Nadine was born and raised in Guatemala where she grew up on her family’s coffee farm before hitching a ride to the UK to study and work in the Finance sector….coming full circle back to coffee in 2012. She saw the true potential of specialty coffee to drive some positive and systemic change and launched Primavera a year later (then called Third Wave Coffee Source Ltd) with the sole purpose of connecting the best coffees from Guatemala to roasters in Europe.

La Central de Café followed in 2016 set up specifically as a coffee milling and export operation for Primavera, a complete vertically integrated company! This also opened up great opportunities to connect with Roasters in other parts of the world, including Five Senses Coffee in Australia.

Producer:Wilian Carillo
Coffee: Finca El Tanque, Guatemala

“My entire family is dedicated to farming coffee, but three years ago we realized that they were focused on growing low-quality coffees, meaning that our prices were low and we were earning very little profit. Seeing this problem, I began to innovate and attend trainings to learn more about focusing on quality coffee. This new experience has helped us as a family, which is why we’re enthusiastic about improving our quality.”

Producer: Ramon Pablo Chalez
Coffee: Los Pablos, Guatemala

“Our family has always relied on coffee production. 10 years ago our two kids dropped out of school because the coffee prices dropped and we couldn’t pay for their education”, tells Ramon. “My two children went back to school till the coffee prices dropped again and they had to stop. Now through our new contacts with our new exporting partner we are filled with hopes that they can continue studying and we will have better opportunities.”

Beyond the Cup

While we certainly appreciate the great coffee that this relationship provides us, what makes it even more special is the work these folk do beyond the cup; in particular Primavera’s passion for sustainability and transparency.

Transparency

Primavera Coffee are proud participants in Specialty Coffee Transaction guide, in which we also contributed to. This international project by researchers at Emory University (Atlanta, US) combines data from producers, roasters, importers and exporters to find out what people are paying for coffee around the world and helps provide contextual information for green coffee sellers and buyers to use.

Read the full article and see the latest transaction guide here: Specialty Coffee Transaction Guide.
See Primavera Coffee’s Transparency Pricing Structure.

Sustainability

Primavera Coffee understand that farms need to work in harmony with the environment for great results in the cup as well as long term ecosystem sustainability. To help farmers with this, they provide information and workshop on topics such as sustainable farming practices, efficient water usage, waste water processing and organic composting with coffee pulp and worms.

Covid Farmer Relief Fund

Embedded in the Guatemalan producing community, Primavera have been closely aware of the challenges posed by COVID and have launched a Farmer Relief Fund, raising money to donate food parcels for affected families. Check out this awesome initiative and send some money in support.

Learn more about Primavera Coffee

Coffee from this relationship

The story of Finca El Hato goes right back to 1938 and the original owner Enrique Topke – in fact his descendants still manage the estate. Fast-forward to the last decade and El Hato has had a bit of a bumpy ride; they rebuilt the nearby abandoned school, providing education to over 400 students, but also faced hardships from Coffee Leaf Rust (CLR), losing over 60% of their production. Keeping positive they planted over 200,000 new trees of different varieties resistant to CLR. Take this rich history, throw in specialised farming practices and skilled processing and your get a delicious cup of buttery milk chocolate, balanced with glacé cherry and mellow lemon acidity.
Out of the remote western Guatemalan region of Huehuetenango, Finca El Tanque is a delicious example of why these iconic highlands are one of the most celebrated origins in the world. Wilian Carillo inherited the 13hectares of Finca El Tanque from his parents and, over the past few years, has been enthusiastically attending trainings and applying innovation to convert his farm to specialty coffee. Established with some great varieties and impressive elevation, Finca El Tanque was perfectly suited to this mission and we're excited to share Wilian's results! In the cup you'll find a beautifully balanced praline sweetness with creamy body and swirls of juicy dark fruits.
Finca Los Pablos is another delicious lot grow in the dramatic landscape of Guatemala's western Huehuetenango region. More than just tasty though, this coffee represents the livelihood of first generation producer, Ramon Pablo Chalez. Growing coffee over the past 20 years has seen Ramon and his family, who do all the work on the farm, wrestle with volatile coffee markets. Their new partnership with Primavera Coffee importers and, in-turn, ourselves, is injecting fresh hope for a better, more stable future. The high altitudes of Ramon's farm along with selective coffee picking deliver delicious flavours of sparkling cherry cola and rich plum jam, lifted by a delicate acidity.