Our Partners

TerraNegra wouldn't be what it is today without our amazing partners. On this page, we will periodically feature their stories so you can get to know them more.

Come back for more later!

José Montenegro

San Antonio la Giralda

“For me, coffee is dedication, perseverance, patience, honesty and friendship.”

José Montenegro,

San Antonio la Giralda

We have been working with Jose since we started operating 4 years ago and we have formed a strong partnership that has been through exciting times and challenging ones as well. This year, José’s entire harvest was stolen from the wet mill he processes his coffee in Lake Amatitlán. The Starry family responded in such an honorable way that they replaced all his coffee, with their own coffee. Their farm is a neighboring farm of San Antonio la Giralda called Lirios de Belén.

Here is how San Antonio la Giralda came to be: “Our story starts with my grandfather Rolando Cooseman who started harvesting coffee and as far as I can remember, I’ve been walking through coffee trees since childhood. In March of 2015, I had the opportunity to obtain a farm (San Antonio la Giralda) which already had coffee planted and that is where I started my own way in the world of coffee.“ José inherited a farm from his grandfather that was located in the coast, and, although this farm was very big, he saw an opportunity and decided to trade his farm with the farm his uncle had inherited as well (now San Antonio la Giralda). Although La Giralda was smaller, José’s vision was bigger than what the other farm could offer, he believed in specialty coffee.

“What motivated me to start in coffee was to continue the family legacy, trying to innovate processing the coffee that we produce and improve our way of life. I have always believed in coffee.” José’s grandfather used to harvest his coffee and sell his production to a coyote, this way he could get the money faster and without much risk. When José started managing La Giralda, he decided to go further and explore new ways to sell his coffee. “My biggest accomplishment during my time in coffee is being able to export the coffee from San Antonio la Giralda for 4 consecutive years, thanks to TerraNegra’s help”. We met José back in 2017 and had the opportunity to get to know him and cup his coffee which was so good! That is where our partnership started and we’ve been bringing his whole harvest to the US ever since.

The majority of producers face so many challenges to produce amazing coffees, “My biggest challenge has been being able to maintain the production, given the climate and phytosanitary adversities.” There isn’t just the challenge of prices being paid for green coffee, but also challenges such as the ones José mentions that are different every harvest. “My family is the most important pillar in working our farm, given that without their support in the hardest moments, I could not be able to maintain the farm afloat.”

Thank you, Jose for all your hard work, passion and love you pour into your coffee. Thank you for your trust and friendship, it is an honor for us to be able to represent you and your delicious coffee every year and to many more to come!

We are also very excited that we will start working this year with José and our roasting partners, Juniors Roasted Coffee, on the Cost of Production project! Although we didn’t get the chance to bring his own coffee this year, we will start this collaboration between partners to setup a system so José may know how much his coffee costs and if the price being paid covers the cost of producing a pound of coffee and getting a profitable margin on top of that price. More information to come in the future!