El Recreo During Harvest 2025:
Through the Eyes of a Barista

The moment I got the email stating that I was selected to go to El Recreo, I was quite literally jumping for joy. My coworkers on the line were laughing at me and had asked if I was going crazy.

“No,” I exclaimed. “I’m going to El Recreo!”

When I had first heard about Biggby’s Farm Direct initiative I was able to truly take pride in the company and franchise I work for. At a surface level I understood that it was changing lives. For every single person involved. On Biggby cups, there is a saying. “We love our coffee. We love the people behind our coffee even more.” At first, I only thought as far as the baristas behind the line. Believe me, we feel the love. But from the time I met with my group at the airport, to the time I left the farm, I understood the extent
of that statement.

Creating a cup of coffee involves a remarkable journey. It’s a labor of love, with harvests spanning long 8–12-hour days from November to March. This includes an exceptionally large team working together picking the perfect red cherries (yes coffee beans are the seeds that come from little cherries), taking it down to the mill to remove the pulp and ferment it to compost for the following year. Then the beans are dried using either massive tumble dryers, similar to laundry machines but much larger, or spread out on sunlit cement patios.

Just thinking about all that work makes me hungry! Good thing that at El Recreo, the kitchen supplies full and hearty meals on-site to ensure every one of the workers is well fed. I know I was! This is not commonplace, however. One Bigg Island In Space searches to support Farms that support their people. This is one way that El Recreo nourishes their people that in turn nourish the farm!

Another way El Recreo supports their diligent workers is through the onsite children’s school. At Recreo, no children are allowed work. They must be in school. Sadly, other farms do not have this rule. As the kiddos at El Recreo get older, they offer further aid in the form of a scholarship and even transportation to equip the children with the best tools to set them up for success in their life.

Remember how I specified children’s school? That’s because Carlos, Jorge, and Miriam’s parents, Carlos and Leana, established a school for the coffee farmers in the surrounding area to enhance and hone their skills and knowledge. Throughout the years, that school had seven hundred graduates! Talk about helping the community!

If what you have read above does not resonate with love, then I don’t know what will. The care they have for each other, and the environment, is most certainly reflected in the quality of the product we all love to enjoy. No pesticides, no genetic modification, no child labor. Just traditional farming practices infused with regenerative and loving values. They care for their farm because that’s their future. Their children’s future. And ultimately our future!

Miriam and Hector had mentioned that they split their time between Boston, Massachusetts, and the farm. What a coincidence! I am about to embark on a quick
getaway to Boston with my girlfriend in a few weeks! Hector then said that we should
stop by their coffee shop in West Roxbury. So we did!

The Recreo coffee shop is a beauty. It operates on similar, if not the same philosophies that BIGGBY COFFEE does. To create a space of love, friendship and delicious coffee! For nearly two hours we sat in their shop. Savoring all sorts of different elixirs that their lovely team of talented baristas were concocting. It may have been a busy day for them, since it was February 14th and their 10 Year anniversary of being open for business, but let me tell you, the love and compassion that they display at their coffee farm is
completely evident with the interactions they shared with their customers. That was indeed the best part of our trip to Boston.

You may be wondering to yourself why someone would want to go to a Central American country to look at some coffee plants. Well let me answer that in three words: Why wouldn’t you? A few more reasons are as follows. I wanted to go for a change of scenery, to get out of my comfort zone, meet the people who make the coffee I enjoy every day, and of course to escape to somewhere warm during a cold Michigan winter!

People who know me well will have heard me say that I dislike feeling comfortable. If I do ever feel uncomfortable, I know something is wrong. I have stopped learning and growing. I don’t know about you, but I love new experiences, learning new things, getting to know new people, and soaking up every last drop of life!

A great leader I have had the privilege to know has told me that if you are fearful of something, that is all the more reason to do it. In other words, if you are unsure of yourself, that is a good indicator that you are ready! While this advice was given to me in a professional setting, it applies here. Personally, I have always had a burning desire for adventure. Going somewhere that makes me uncomfortable and doing things in a place that I’ve never been before. That is what tells me I’m alive. It allows me to grow. Far
more than I possibly could if I were at home in my comfy chair!

Composing and polishing up this blog post has rekindled my appreciation to be able to have gone on this adventure. Being able to grasp the concept of Farm-Direct a bit better now, I can truly recognize the impact it has on the real human beings that support us. Why shouldn’t we support them? After all, when you love the world, the world will love you right back! Treating people well is paramount! Without compromise! It’s about creating a genuine heart-to-heart connection with the farmers, with our fanatics, and all of this done through coffee! What a powerful thing!

So, what would I say to another barista who is on the fence, or anyone else? Get out there. Get out of your comfort zone and into your growth zone! Get out into the world! Bob Fish said at the beginning that everyone who has gone on one of these trips has said that it is a life-changing experience! I doubted him at first, but I can certainly say that I am not who I was before, I have learned, grown and improved exponentially. So, I challenge you to take a step out of the coffee shop and onto the farm! Life is meant to be an adventure, enjoy it!