GUAYUSA COFFEE - GUAYUSA AND COFFEE THE NEW KIND

D This article is intended to give you, as our community, an impression of how we work at GUYA and how new, exciting projects emerge from this. Everything at GUYA was and is created out of personal interest, conviction and the heart's desire to bring something good into the world.

So for everyone who is interested in our new product "Guayusa Coffee" or just wondering why GUYA, the Guayusa company, is suddenly launching a coffee product on the market, you will find the answer here.

If you just want to know something about the taste and the effect, you will find the answers in this article. If you want to get to know our recommended preparation options, look HERE.

HOW EVERYTHING BEGAN

Who would have thought that as a Guayusa company we would one day offer a coffee product? We didn't think so and actually had to bring ourselves to do it. As absolute Guayusa advocates, we hardly ever drink coffee, unless it is about enjoyment and the right atmosphere. The taste has always been a big argument for coffee lovers NOT to switch to Guayusa. Last but not least, Maik, our photo and videographer, is a big coffee fan. During our time in Ecuador from November 2019 to May 2020, during which we filmed terabytes and terabytes of photo and video material, we also talked about coffee trees in the forest gardens again and again stumbled.

After a few weeks, Maik started mixing guayusa powder and coffee powder to get the effects of both plants. Fast and strong from the coffee and long-lasting and focusing from the guayusa.

We tested these different mixing ratios and became more and more euphoric because the effect was awesome and the taste definitely appealed to coffee lovers. For social proof, we distributed our blend to people we knew were coffee lovers and also visited two baristas, including 5-time Barista Championship winner David Mino. Together we refined the blend and fine-tuned the coffee grind so it works best in a mocha, French press, and dripper.

THE SEARCH FOR THE BEST COFFEE FARMERS IN ECUADOR

As with our "Lemongrass" variety, our basic idea is to buy all raw materials from our partner community in Ecuador, if possible. However, our partner community for guayusa and lemongrass has no experience whatsoever with coffee cultivation and certainly not with processing and roasting.
So we made queer phone calls through Ecuador to find a suitable supplier. Unfortunately, we often came across huge plantations that we do not want to support, despite organic certification. Our concept is to work with permacultures that ensure the best possible biodiversity.

We finally found what we were looking for in a small community called WITOKA. Few years ago they decided to make coffee from Ecuador big again! Robusta coffee has taken a back seat over the last few decades due to the huge Arabica plantations. Robusta has about 2x more caffeine and a very interesting flavor profile! In 2019, WITOKA won the award for the best Robusta coffee in Ecuador. We visited the community and saw for ourselves the cultivation, the processing and of course the people behind the project.

THE TASTING

What crazy days! Anyone who has ever drunk too many cups of coffee knows why! We spent a whole weekend visiting the WITOKA community. On the first day we visited the forest gardens and looked at the drying facilities. The second day was all about the perfect roast and the best degree of grinding. We tested different roasts and degrees of grinding for hours until we combined them with our "Guayusa Powder" to find the best mixture here as well. The tasting lasted until 7 p.m. in the evening. … None of us could sleep and the next day the return trip to Tena was planned.

THE PURCHASE AND EXPORT

Not so easy to buy from a Kichwa community who have never prepared an export but make incredibly good coffee!

In order to be exposed to less bureaucracy and to prepare the invoicing as well as the export and the phytosanitary documents, we connected our Guayusa community with WITOKA and were therefore not only able to buy ingenious coffee, but also initiated a great partnership between two communities.

CHALLENGES

Unfortunately, Covid-19 also plays a major role in global logistics. Not only was it incredibly difficult to find a suitable ship at all, this ship was at sea about 1.5 months longer than planned. As a result, our actually planned start date had to be pushed back again and again. Topics such as reserved slots at bottlers, marketing campaigns and packaging purchases are the rat tail, which then makes the whole topic even more complicated and expensive.

Ultimately, the start date was pushed back three months. But the quality has not suffered due to the great workmanship and safe packaging by WITOKA.

We look forward to your feedback, constructive criticism and many bright stories about how you use our "Guayusa Coffee" powder.