18 Years, One Legendary Coffee: The Story of PT's and Finca El Socorro
In the middle of America, a tiny team is bringing exceptional coffee to Topeka, Kansas. They’ve been doing it for 33 years.
PT’s Coffee Roasting Co. was founded in 1993 by Jeff Taylor and Fred Polzin, two friends who realized they couldn’t find a good cup of coffee anywhere. Their love of the hunt, and the guiding question, "Is our coffee the best it can be?" led them to establish one of the country's first direct trade programs in 2005.
Meanwhile, Juan Diego de la Cerda was taking over operations of Finca El Socorro in Guatemala, where his family had been growing coffee for generations. In 2007, he entered his Maracaturra coffee into the Cup of Excellence. According to Juan Diego, it was "something very different and exotic at that time." He won first place.
The following year, Juan Diego again participated in the Cup of Excellence and PT’s team bought his coffee. They’ve been doing business together ever since. 18 years, and counting.
When we recently joined PT's and Juan Diego for a conversation, the power of their partnership was captured most clearly in the story of one coffee.
"The El Socorro Maracaturra Washed is a legend within specialty coffee," reflected Brent Piepergerdes, PT's COO. "Customers ask us constantly, 'When is the Maracaturra going to be back?'"
“For me, it’s very personal,” shared Brent, who has worked with Juan Diego since 2014. “Seeing the evolution of that specific coffee has been remarkable. Our customers become connected to Juan Diego’s coffees, and it becomes something personal for them too.”
This long-standing relationship enriches the experience for everyone, and it keeps both businesses viable.
"It’s not just about environmental sustainability or resource sustainability," Brent explained. "This is about business sustainability. The partnerships that we have are about sustaining each other's businesses, about sustaining community, and relationships that are important to the social network and identity of these communities."
When roasters buy coffees from the same farmer year after year, that farmer is able to experiment with new varieties and processing methods. Together, PT’s and Juan Diego see the results evolve over years, and they help one another adapt to factors that are out of their control, whether that’s the variability of Mother Nature or the marketplace.
"I'm very curious," Juan Diego shared. "I'm always looking for new things. Right now I think I have more than fifteen different varieties."
But when Juan Diego introduces a new variety, he must wait four to five years for a decent production, so he is also cautious about following "modas," or trends. "In my point of view, the very good, balanced, washed coffees are always going to be in the market."
This is where a long-standing partnership provides stability: a classic coffee that has a home year after year.
"It’s agriculture," noted Will Vunderink, from PT’s team. "It's not just a cup of coffee you’re going to buy once and that's that. It's a long-term relationship and an evolving agricultural product." "Anybody can buy a spot coffee, roast it, and sell it," Will added, "but that's a very different transaction than continually exploring what an individual producer is capable of year after year."
"Most people don’t know how much effort goes into one single cup of coffee," Juan Diego reflected. "There's coffee for everyone, but we have to find the people who really appreciate it and want to learn and know more about the cup of coffee they're drinking."
At Siip, we think long-standing partnerships between roasters and farmers are one of the most important factors in creating a resilient and equitable coffee supply chain. It’s what determines the roasters we source from, and the coffees we recommend.
We’re honored to welcome PT’s Coffee and Juan Diego to our community of roasters and farmers. We look forward to the seasonal return of a legend next spring. In the meantime, we’ll be adding El Socorro Maracaturra Washed from PT’s to our wishlist on Siip.
