What is Guatemese?

As a young boy, if you were to ask me what ethnicity I would marry, I would have never guessed Hispanic. And likewise, if you had asked Mari what kind of man she would marry when she grew up, she never would have thought Asian. 

On the surface, it seems that we are such a peculiar and strange couple. I think about the bondage and limitations that pre-conceived notions and traditions have on our choices and thoughts. My wife and I are soooooo different culturally and temperament wise. The Vietnamese culture is so reserved and conservative, while my wife's Guatemalan culture is loud and expressive. Really loud. Like, hurt my ears loud. I am so quiet and shy, yet my wife is so outgoing, chatty, and sanguine. I am enjoying the quarantine, while my wife is going crazy! However, we realized that when we blended our polar opposite cultures and temperaments, it made for a beautiful combination! Other people, on the other hand, didn't see it that way. 

When we announced that we were getting married, my conservative parents refused to attend. They wouldn't talk to Mari. Thank goodness they changed their mind at the last second! Now my parents talk to her more than they talk to me! 

Within our own marriage, we saw the beauty and power of combining polar opposites resulting in marvelous union! 

My family immigrated from Vietnam right before the fall Saigon, fleeing from the Communists. My wife immigrated from Guatemala after the murder of her father, and death of her mother from cancer leaving her without parents when she was 14 years old. Little did we know that the bitterness of injustice and suffering would force us to the same city that would lead to a sweet and glorious union in marriage!

Guatemala + Vietnam = Guatemese!

This led to our exploration and experimentation into blending different coffee beans together to produce amazing coffee! We started with getting rid of preconceived notions about what a coffee is supposed to taste like. We started off with a good quality specialty grade coffee bean. Then we roasted it to reach a certain profile. Then we combined it with another high quality specialty grade coffee bean that was roasted to a certain profile that would complement it.

The result is what you see so far in our coffee offerings. We hope you enjoy what we've come up with so far! If you have any ideas, please email us at guatemesecoffee@gmail.com.